Only If For A Night
by ecampbell3
Summary: "I'm sorry, this was a mistake." The last words he said to her. And she agreed with him, didn't she? It was a mistake. Just one last hurrah before going off to college. That one mistake as a silly teenage girl changed her life forever. Now she has to face him again and deal with the aftermath of their actions five years later.
1. Prologue

Here it is, guys! This story is like my little side one from Dirty Little Secret, it'll only be about 10-15 chapters I think. I didn't want to drag it out because it's a story line that has been seen many times and I'm just taking my own shot at it. I hope you all enjoy!

Summary: "I'm sorry, this was a mistake." The last words he said to her. And she agreed with him, didn't she? It was a mistake. Just one last hurrah before going off to college. That one mistake as a silly teenager girl changed her life forever. Now she has to face him again and deal with the aftermath of their actions five years later.

Disclaimer: I own nothing unfortunately.

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**Prologue**

**August 23, 2007**

Haley James surveyed the Scott's beach house when she walked into the mansion with her best friend, Brooke Davis. As usual, the extravagantly decorated place was packed to the brim with rowdy teenagers, all of which were well on their way to being wasted.

In typical Brooke and Haley fashion, they had come late to the party. It had started about an hour earlier, but they knew they hadn't missed anything yet. No party ever really got started before Brooke and Haley showed up. They were the popular best friends that every girl strived to hang out with and every guy wanted to score. The satisfied smile on Brooke's face as she looked around at the partygoers made it clear to an outsider that the brunette beauty lived for popularity and partying. The gorgeous blonde beside her looked happy, but one could tell it was more at the opportunity to spend time with her best friends. She was clearly not as invested in popularity. That's not to say Haley didn't love her life though. It was truly fantastic. She had her best friends and pretty much anything she could ever ask for.

Brooke was obviously scanning the room for a potential hook up for the night. It was no secret around school that of the two best friends, Brooke was the easy one. Haley was a bookworm. She tutored other kids in her spare time and although she had experienced a lot of male attention, she wasn't all that interested in it. Sure, Haley had had her fair share of relationships and hook ups but at the core she was just innocent little Haley James.

Shrugging an arm around her best friend's shoulders, Haley took in a surreal breath. "Are you ready for this, Brookie?"

Brooke copied Haley's action and pulled her friend closer. "Last high school party we'll ever attend? Hell yeah I'm ready! Then tomorrow afternoon you and I are on a direct flight to California where we'll get to spend the next four years together."

Haley smiled excitedly. She couldn't wait to start that next chapter of her life. The day her acceptance letter to Stanford came in the mail had been the best day of her life. Getting a full ride to the school she dreamed of going to all her life had made her the happiest girl on earth. When she found out that her best friend had also by some crazy chance gotten into the prestigious school as well, she had become even happier and a permanent smile had been etched across her face ever since. She still didn't know how Brooke had gotten accepted, school was never her thing. Those late night study sessions between the two girls must have paid off though and Brooke's parents had no problem footing her bill for college knowing that Haley would be there with her.

Brooke's parents adored her. Sometimes the two girls often joked that Victoria and Ted Davis loved Haley more than their own daughter. Haley had been an incredible influence over their daughter through their lives and wouldn't trust anyone else to be with her in college.

"Brooke! Haley!" someone's yelling voice broke them out of their trance. They both waved kindly at all the people that turned to greet them with excitement. They really were practically two celebrities in this town.

Peyton Sawyer's curly blonde hair could be seen bouncing through the crowd and soon popped up right in front of their faces. "Finally you guys are here! I've been going insane hanging out with just Luke and Nate."

"Come on , the Scott brothers aren't that bad," Brooke said. It was amazing that she could actually say it with a smile on her face, considering less than a year ago Brooke wouldn't even speak of Lucas. He had cheated on her with some random girl and it took Brooke almost six months to start talking to him again after they broke up.

"Yeah, I know. They're both already drunk off their asses though. I've been waiting for you two to get here so we can have our own fun one last time. I don't know what I'm going to do without you guys."

All three of the girls frowned, with Peyton's quite a bit more visible. They had been friends since freshman year, along with Lucas and Nathan coming around more frequently in sophomore. It hurt all three of them to have to split up when Peyton went to Savannah's College of Art and Design. She was a gifted artist though and Savannah was the place to go for her.

"Okay, let's not get sad now," Haley reprimanded them. "We'll still see each other on holidays and summer. We're always going to be the best of friends; I know we don't have to worry about that."

Peyton and Brooke nodded in agreement. Haley was the smart one of the group and if she said they'd always be friends, then the other two knew it was fact. They all moved into have a quick, group hug before pulling away smiling.

"Come on, let's go have the time of our lives at our last high school party!" Brooke exclaimed and bystanders close to them all began cheering in agreement.

Brooke led her two friends further into the house, towards the kitchen where she knew all the booze was likely to be set up. She also figured that Nathan and Lucas would be holding court in there to be as close as possible to the alcohol and all the girls needing refills on their drinks. The two brothers were known to be players and a party like this was where they thrived. Any given night, they could have at least three or four different girls practically begging the boys to end the night with them.

As expected, the fraternal twins were in the kitchen standing next to the beer keg in the corner. For twins, they looked nothing alike. Lucas was blonde with a muscular build and often sported a brooding look. Nathan had raven black hair with an Adonis like build. The two things the brothers shared was an intense love for basketball and their piercing blue eyes that made all the girls fall at their feet.

The boys spotted the three girls as soon as they walked in and sent them beaming smiles, making it more than obvious that Peyton wasn't lying when she said they were wasted. Lucas was the one to bring attention to the newly arrived girls when he yelled their names unnecessarily loud. Almost immediately they watched as random guys locked their gazes on them and started towards Brooke and Haley, and some also set on picking up Peyton.

"They don't want any of you losers!" Nathan chuckled loudly as he yelled at all the guys approaching his friends. To make sure they got the message loud and clear, Nathan shot menacing glares out across the room at every guy around. He was extremely amused that they all instantly backed off. Nathan Scott always got what he wanted.

Nathan beckoned for the three girls to come over to him and Luke to which they did happily. He greeted Brooke and Haley with a quick hug as did Lucas and handed them both their favourite type of drink.

"Thanks, Nathan," Haley said sweetly when he passed the cup to her. He smiled back at her and nodded. Brooke did the same and he gave the same response to her.

Nathan and Lucas Scott had only been friends with Brooke, Haley, and Peyton for two years, but the group of five was quite close knit. They partied together all the time and hung with just their group sometimes. They were by no means a group of best friends, but very close friends for sure. The group came to be when Lucas and Brooke started dating and they all kind of fell together after that. Unlike his brother, Nathan had never made a move on any of his girl friends. He was a play boy, but he wouldn't dare use someone he actually cared about like that. It was no problem for him and Peyton because they had always had a brother-sister type relationship. Nathan and Haley was a different story though. She was the nicest girl he had ever met. Just genuinely kind and sweet and always actually listened to what he had to say. He enjoyed her company and it didn't help that you'd have to be blind to not realize how gorgeous she was. He didn't want to jeopardize their friendship though so he never hooked up with her.

"Looks like there's a bonfire outside," Brooke observed. "Let's go check it out."

The girls took off their shoes and noticed that the large fire warmed the sand beneath their feet. It crackled and popped as the wood burned and lit up the faces of the five friends. They had gotten out to the fire and saw that no one else was around anymore and took seats close together.

"To tonight, our very last party as highschoolers," Brooke said as she held up her cup. Everyone did the same and nodded in agreement. They each had small smiles on their faces.

"To starting the next stage of our lives in college," Haley went next.

"To having the time of our lives the next four years and always having four amazing friends to share stories with," Peyton followed up.

"To finding what we love to do," Lucas spoke up in a hoarse voice.

"To having the craziest sex we could ever imagine!" Nathan smirked, obviously still completely wasted.

Everyone groaned and shook their heads. Nathan was often the goofball of the group, never taking anything seriously. So even when they were trying to be sentimental on their last night together, leave it to the raven haired boy to ruin their little moment.

"Relax guys, I'm kidding," he laughed. Holding up his cup again, everyone did as well. "To not holding back and always going after what we desire," he said seriously and took a long swig of his drink.

The four other friends smiled wider and took long drinks as well. Those five toasts were going to be their words to live by for the next four years in college. They may be splitting up, but the memory of tonight would always stay with each of them no matter what.

"Now let's go back inside and party as hard as we fucking can!" Lucas exclaimed. He stood up and assumed he was leading his friends back into the beach house. Peyton and Brooke followed immediately and as Haley began to as well, Nathan clasped his hand around her arm gently.

"Take a walk with me for a minute," he more so stated than asked. She found herself silently nodding and turning to go the opposite direction.

Brooke noticed that her best friend wasn't by her side and turned back. She saw Nathan saying something to her but didn't really care if she was interrupting. Brooke Davis took precedence over whatever Nathan was saying. "You coming or what, Hales?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Haley called back. She knew Brooke might not be happy that she was being ditched, but she would deal with it. It was their last high school party and she wanted to spend some of it with each of her friends, not just Brooke, who she would see every day for the next four years anyway.

They started walking slowly along the sand and soon Haley felt the ocean water beneath her feet. She hadn't been out to the beach in a while, she had forgotten what it felt like to walk along the shoreline, but doing it now and feeling Nathan's arm around her waist had excited butterflies floating around her stomach. They may have also had something to do with the amount of alcohol she had consumed in such a short period of time already though.

Nathan stopped walking without a word and faced Haley. He smiled goofily at her and his piercing eyes bored into her deep brown ones. Slowly, Nathan leaned in and covered her lips with his. Everything after that was a complete blur.

Nathan pulled away just as slowly and looked at her questioningly. Within seconds, Haley had reattached their lips fiercely. At some point they had lost their clothes and were lying down on the sand. The normally sensible Haley didn't even give a thought to how annoying it was going to be trying to get all the sand off her body. They were both completely caught up in each other. When Nathan finally joined them, their coupling was incredibly fast, both wanting nothing but to go over the edge together.

She had wanted this for so long. Nathan was one of her good friends and for as long as she could remember she had been attracted to him. She never had the courage to say anything though, and it was now finally happening for them. So what if they were going to college on opposite sides of the county, they might be able to make something work, right? Her mind came back to the events at hand when she felt pleasure rip through her body. Nathan jerked a few times in her before they both ceased their movements. Nathan was lying completely on top of her, trying to catch his breath.

Haley ran her hands up and down his back, enjoying the feel of all his weight pressing against her bare chest. She cleared her dry throat, wracking her brain for something to say. "Nathan..."

Nathan's groan cut her off. He buried his head against her shoulder for a moment before he moved himself off her completely and stood up. Nathan silently gathered his scattered clothes and put them on. Haley remained lying on the sand, her eyes now reflecting a look of confusion. He looked down at her for a moment, until he couldn't bare it anymore and looked off into the swirling ocean. "I'm sorry, Haley. I'm still drunk and shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, this was a mistake," he let out and quickly walked back towards the beach house.

Haley lay still in shock for a moment. She shook it off as best she could and threw her clothes on hastily. He was right. They both just made a stupid mistake. They were drunk and it was the last night they'd see each other for a while. It was a stupid way of saying good bye or have one last hurrah and now Haley had nothing left to say. She didn't care that all her things were still inside; all she wanted to do was go home and then leave for California tomorrow morning without a second glance.


	2. Chapter 1

Wow! I just want to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter, feedback was phenomenal. In case this is the first story of mine you're reading, I'll just say that I usually post updates on my profile to let you guys know how writing the next chapter is coming along. Feel free to check that out! I have a tenative plan to update this story every Friday, but who really knows how long that will last. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 1

**July 14, 2012**

The sound of clashing and banging filled her ear drums and the groggy woman groaned in protest. In her sleepy state, she had no clue what was happening, but whatever it was needed to stop right now. The obnoxious bouncing on her bed clued her in to what was going on and Haley flipped herself over and opened her eyes wide. She felt before she saw a small body move onto her stomach and immediately wrapped her arms around it as tight as possible.

The young boy's giggle was music to her ears. It was hands down the best sound she had or will ever hear. Looking to either side of her, Haley noticed that her two best friends were perched on her bed on their hands and knees. They had amused smiles on their faces and pots and pans in their hands, equipped with wooden spoons as well. She really wasn't surprised to see her friends this way, sometimes they were more childish than the actual child they lived with. No doubt the two of them were the masterminds behind the plan to wake her up. Her little boy would never think to do such a thing to her on his own.

"So to what do I owe this lovely awakening?" she kinked her brow and looked individually at each of the three people around her.

Brooke shrugged innocently and flashed a perky smile. "We were hungry."

"Yeah, Mama! We're hungry!"

"You are?" she gasped dramatically. "Why couldn't Aunt Brooke or Uncle Julian make something to eat?" she asked, looking at them with amusement. She knew why her two friends didn't bother cooking, she just liked to hear them admit it from time to time.

"Come on, Hales, we all know you're the best cook out of the three of us. Brooke can barely make toast without messing it up and I'm not much better," Julian said and Haley batted her eye lashes, basking in the compliment of her cooking ability.

"Well since I kind of love you guys, I guess I could make you breakfast," she conceded and laughed when Jamie made a show of pumping his fist in the air, something she was sure Julian had recently taught him.

Haley set Jamie on the ground and climbed out of bed. He ran quickly through the fairly large house as the three adults followed slowly. They, plus Jamie considered themselves to be the four musketeers. When Brooke and Haley moved to California to attend Stanford, they met fellow freshman Julian Baker at their orientation day. The three had immediately clicked with each other and had been inseparable since that day. After living on campus for freshman year, it was a no brainer for the friends to get a house together for the remaining three years.

After they graduated from Stanford last year, they decided to continue on with their living situation and move into a larger house now that they weren't paying for school. Haley didn't know what she would have done without her two best friends during the last five years. They had been with her through everything, and had been beyond amazing with Jamie.

Haley found out she was pregnant about a month after moving to California. She had been throwing up frequently and noticed a few changes with her body. Brooke suggested she take a pregnancy test just to rule it out, unaware that her best friend had slept with Nathan their last night in Tree Hill. When the results came back positive, Haley had spent two days crying and trying to figure out what she was going to do. It was during that time that she also had to explain to Brooke and Julian about her one night stand with Nathan. Abortion had never even crossed her mind, but Haley had no idea how to tell her family and friends back home, and most importantly, Nathan. Despite being drunk when they slept together, Haley still remembered virtually everything about that night. She especially remembered Nathan's final words to her and those were the reason she decided it would be better for everyone involved if she didn't contact Nathan about her pregnancy.

He obviously regretted having sex with her and he was in no way prepared to have a child. Of course, neither was Haley and she was going to have to make many sacrifices in the years to come, but she didn't want to be the reason Nathan's life got turned upside down. Haley knew it was wrong of her to keep a secret this big from Nathan, but she thought it would be for the best. Nathan was going to Duke on a full athletic scholarship. No doubt he would be drafted into the NBA and become a star. Fame and an illegitimate child was not something you should ever mix. Putting Nathan aside, Haley also knew she didn't want to subject her child to the separated parents deal, jumping from house to house every other weekend. It wasn't fair.

Brooke and Julian were opposed to Haley's decision at first, but after hearing her reasoning a few times they realized their friend didn't get a full academic scholarship to Stanford for no reason. She was right and they would back her every step of the way. Along with her decision to keep Nathan in the dark, Haley was forced to alienate everyone back in Tree Hill. She didn't want to chance any of them finding out about her pregnancy and then word getting back to Nathan. It was a difficult time for Haley, but she made it out in one piece and soon found that her son was the best thing that ever happened to her.

James Julian Scott was born June 8th 2008, only a week after Haley finished her freshman year finals. Choosing her son's last name had been an issue that plagued Haley's mind the entire nine months. She went back and forth between what she wanted. Finally, Haley opted to give her son the last name Scott when she thought about him growing up. She wanted him to have some sort of a connection to his father, even if Nathan wasn't actually present. Jamie's first name was a tribute to her own father and the rest of her family back in Tree Hill, friends included. They weren't all James' but in her mind they were all as good as family by blood and she named her son after them as a reminder that they would always be with her and her little boy no matter what. The middle name had been the easiest thing for Haley to pick out. As soon as she found out she was having a boy, Haley knew she was going to put Julian's name in there somehow. Julian had quickly become her best friend in California, next to Brooke of course. The man had stood by her every step of the way through her pregnancy and did everything he could to help her. It was a no brainer to name her son after him and also name him godfather, she wouldn't dream of having anyone else. Naturally, Brooke was Jamie's godmother. The woman had been her best friend since they were little girls, before she even got pregnant she knew that Brooke would be the godmother of her first born child and she would be known as Aunt Brooke.

"Hello, earth to Hales?" Brooke spoke, waving her hand in front of Haley's face to garner a response. She had been telling her two friends a story as they walked to the kitchen and Haley gave no indication that she was even listening when Brooke asked her a question.

Haley shook her head in attempt to get out of her wandering mind. "What?"

"I was telling you how much of a moron Teresa was at work the other day and asked if you agreed," Brooke rolled her eyes. It was so like Haley to just space out in the middle of a conversation. It was the price she had to pay being best friends with a day dreamer. Brooke secretly liked it about Haley though, it was why she had dreams and goals and she could appreciate that in anyone.

"Oh, right. Well, are you really surprised? After a year of working at the boutique I would think you've gotten used to how dense she always is."

"I can't believe it!" Julian gasped. "Is Haley James actually talking badly about someone?"

"You know it's true, you loser!" she laughed and punched Julian in the arm lightly. She didn't know why she held back when she hit him though, the guy was 6 feet tall and virtually all muscle. She would never be able to hurt him if she hit him using all her strength. "Besides, it's not like I'm a saint. Even I have moments where I'm not the nicest person."

"You're always nice, Mama," Jamie commented from his seat at the kitchen table, catching the tail end of the adult's conversation as they entered the room.

They all laughed softly at the little boy's innocence. He had clearly not seen Haley James get defensive over the people she cared about. "That's because you're my baby boy and I love you!" she said animatedly and kissed the top of his head as she walked by.

He wrapped his tiny arms around her neck for a moment, pulling her close to him. "I love you, too, Mommy."

"Hey! What about us?" Brooke broke in, gesturing between her and Julian.

Jamie giggled; he loved when all three of them gave him attention. "I love you guys, too," he smiled wide and beckoned them over with his hands. When Brooke and Julian walked over to them he gave them each a tight hug.

"What, no kiss?" Brooke teased. In his four years of life, Jamie had never kissed her. The only person he would ever kiss was Haley. She always bugged him about it and tried to get one out of him, but found no avail.

"No! I only kiss Mama!"

"That's good. Let's keep it that way for a long time. Okay, buddy?" Haley commented from the stove. She loved watching her little boy grow up, but sometimes she felt like it was happening way too fast. She just wanted him to slow down a little bit.

Jamie didn't respond as he seemed to become preoccupied with some cool napkin trick Julian was teaching him. She was so thankful for Julian's presence in Jamie's life. He needed a male influence to look up to because sometimes there were things she just couldn't do as a mother. Julian was the best thing she could ever ask for as a role model for her son.

When Haley finished cooking breakfast, she fixed a plate for Jamie and called Brooke and Julian to make their own. Meals together were something their little family did every day. Breakfast when their schedules aligned and dinner for sure. It was their time to spend with each other and just enjoy the company. They really did consider themselves a family, too. Although unconventional, they were with each other through thick and thin, and that's what family is, isn't it?

"So, I've been thinking," Brooke spoke up as she pushed the remainder of her omelette around her plate. Haley's motherly instinct kicked in and she fought the urge to reprimand her best friend for playing with her food.

"About what?"

Brooke bit her lip. She knew that chances were what she was about to say would not bode well with Haley, but she had to get it out before it just exploded out of her. "I want to move back to Tree Hill."

Haley dropped her fork and nearly began choking on her food. She forcefully swallowed and looked in shock at the brunette. "What?"

Julian sensed a possible fight coming on between the two women and decided it was probably a good idea to get Jamie out of there before it began. It was rare for Haley and Brooke to fight, but when it did happen it seriously upset the little boy. "Hey JJ, what do you say to going upstairs and playing action figures? I bet I can finally get Spiderman to beat Batman!"

Jamie scoffed at the man and looked in disbelief at him. "Spiderman will never beat Batman, Julian."

"Well, why don't we go and see?"

"Okay!" Jamie agreed quickly and hopped out of his seat. "Bye, Mama," he said and stood as tall as he could to kiss Haley's cheek lightly. She smiled back at him and offered the same to Julian, shooting him a thankful look as well. He was always looking out for Jamie like this.

As soon as the boys left the room, Haley turned her attention back to Brooke. "I thought we agreed five years ago that we were never going back there."

"Hales, I agreed to that because you're my best friend and that's what you needed at the time. It's been five years though, don't you think it's about time to go back home? Things are different now and I miss everyone. We haven't seen or spoke to anyone in Tree Hill since coming out here; well, excluding your parents I guess. It's been a year since we graduated and I'm not going anywhere here. I want to go back to Tree Hill and open my own store, start my own clothing line there. The only way I'm going to do that is with my best friends and god son at my side."

Haley shook her head back and forth. She picked up her and Jamie's plates and walked them over to the sink to begin washing them. "I can't Brooke. I won't go back there. California is where my life is now. End of discussion."

"No, Haley, it's not the end of the discussion! Why are you so adamant about not going home?" Brooke began to get angry with her friend. She was so stubborn sometimes that Brooke just wanted to shake her.

"It's not my home anymore, Brooke! When I left Tree Hill five years ago and found out I was pregnant, I had no intentions of ever going back and nothing has changed that. There's nothing there for me anymore, so why would I ever go back?"

"For Nathan," Brooke stated easily.

"I don't know what's going through your mind, but Nathan is the main reason why I _won't _go back there, Brooke."

"Oh please Haley," Brooke scoffed. "You can be so stubborn sometimes it drives me crazy! It's so obvious that you're in love with him, so why can't you just admit it, suck up your pride and go home and tell him!"

"Aunt Brooke, why are you yelling at my mommy?" a small voice interrupted the two women.

Both of them turned and looked at Jamie in surprise. Haley sighed and walked across the room towards him, picking him up with ease. "It's okay, Jimmy Jam. Aunt Brooke and I were just talking. She didn't mean to yell at mommy."

"What were you talking about?"

"Just grown up stuff, bud. Why don't you go upstairs and play with Uncle J again, huh?" she asked and set him back down. He nodded enthusiastically and took off up the stairs without another word.

Haley ran her hand down her face tiredly and faced Brooke again. "First of all, I'm not in love with Nathan. Second, this has nothing to do with pride. I'm trying to protect my son from all the turmoil that will no doubt occur if I go home."

"You think I don't know about the pictures of you and Nathan that you keep in the bottom drawer of your nightstand? I've seen them before, Hales. Why else would you keep pictures like that if you weren't in love him? You have been since junior year. I'm your best friend, I know these things."

Haley ignored the fact that Brooke had obviously been snooping through her drawers to know about the pictures she kept. That fight was for another day. "Would you just drop it, Brooke? Nathan Scott and I existed for one night. He said it was a mistake and nothing else will ever happen between us, okay?"

"Fine!" Brooke threw her hands up in defence. "Doesn't even a small part of you want to go home? It's where we grew up, Hales. It's where the rest of our family is. I love our little family here, but don't you want to see everyone else? Peyton, Luke, your parents, my parents, Quinn, the brother in law you've never met, Karen, and Dan? I miss them and I know you do too."

"It's not that simple, Brooke," Haley argued dejectedly. "Just because I miss people doesn't mean I can pack my entire life up and move across the country."

"Why? You've done it before," Brooke reasoned. She understood where Haley was coming from, but she also truly believed that moving back to Tree Hill would be best for all of them.

"That was for college! I have a child to think about now."

"You know as well as I do that Jamie would love to move to Tree Hill. He's always looking at our photo albums and trying to learn every single thing about everyone from our past. Don't you realize how thrilled he would be finally meet all of them?"

"I know that, but it would also cause all sorts of problems. No one knows that he even exists. What am I supposed to tell them?" Haley asked desperately and the question indicated to Brooke that Haley was beginning to cave to the idea.

"What else are you going to do, Haley? Never see your family again? Let's be honest, at some point you're going to have to face everyone in Tree Hill again, whether you like it or not. Why not do it now, while Jamie is still young and isn't as aware of everything that is happening."

Haley ran an overwhelmed hand through her wavy brunette locks. She was confused and torn and scared. She knew deep down that everything Brooke was saying was right. It was time for her to go back to Tree Hill. She needed to face her past head on and accept the consequences her actions were going to bring. She missed her family so much sometimes it physically pained her. Her parents, her sister, Peyton, and Lucas. She missed Nathan on a whole other level and it petrified her. How was he going to react to the news that he had a son? How would everything react for that matter? It was going to be messy. As she swallowed thickly and nodded, signalling to Brooke that she was agreeing to the move, she could only pray that Jamie didn't get hurt caught in the crossfire.

Brooke hugged her best friend tightly. "You're going to be just fine, Hales. I'll be right there with you, ready to fight whoever I need to."

Julian walked into the kitchen with the excuse of grabbing a water of bottle, actually trying to make sure his friends hadn't killed each other yet. When he saw them embracing he paused. "Whoa, didn't think this is what I'd see," he commented.

The girls pulled away and Brooke smiled happily at Julian. She had already discussed her desire to move home with him and he agreed. He also said he would move with them if Haley chose to move. "Pack your bags, J, we're moving to Tree Hill!"

He smiled and rejoined them in a hug. He kissed Haley's head comfortingly, knowing she was scared to death. So it looked like their little family was headed to Tree Hill, North Carolina. The small town on the Cape Fear River better prepare itself. Its citizens were in for some colossal drama when Haley James and Brooke Davis stormed back into town bringing two new men along with them.


	3. Chapter 2

You guys are all seriously phenomenal! I never thought this story would be as popular as it is! Thank you so much for the support, I'm glad you're all enjoying the story as much as I am writing it! I hope you all like this latest chapter!

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Chapter 2

"Why do you have to leave, Mama?" Jamie's soft voice asked sadly.

Haley sighed to herself, his voice sounded so broken it was tearing her up inside. She and Jamie hadn't spent more than several hours apart in his entire life and now here she was leaving him with Julian in California for a week. It was Brooke's idea for the two of them to drive together to Tree Hill with a moving truck with most of their boxes a week early so they could set up the house without a four year old running around. Julian and Jamie would be staying behind in California to pack up last odds and ends and then they would fly to Tree Hill.

"We talked about this already, baby. Mommy and Aunt Brooke are going to our new house in Tree Hill early so it's all ready when you and Uncle J get there," she spoke soothingly to try to get her little boy to understand.

"But I don't wanna stay with Uncle Julian. I want to go with you."

"Ouch," Julian muttered to Brooke where they stood a few feet away watching the mother and son. They had finished loading all the boxes onto the truck and Brooke and Haley were getting ready to leave. Haley smiled up at Julian, obviously hearing his hurt and shrugged.

"Oh, please," Brooke replied. "You act as if that's a surprise. Haley's his mom and we all know she's his favourite by a landslide."

"Can't argue with that," Julian nodded.

"You and Uncle Julian are gonna have so much fun together this week, Jimmy Jam! He told me all the cool stuff he had planned for you two," Haley continued to console him.

"How long are you gone for?"

"It's only going to be a week, sweetheart. You and Julian are gonna fly to Tree Hill a week from today and then we'll all be together again."

"And I'll get to meet all your old friends!" he said excitedly.

Jamie was thrilled when Haley told him about the move to Tree Hill. He was so excited to meet all Brooke and Haley's old friends after seeing pictures of them in old photo albums countless times. He had been told stories about each one of them and had managed to memorize little facts about everyone. Although the prospect of returning to her hometown made her extremely anxious, just seeing Jamie's excitement helped calm her nerves a little. The most exciting thing for her little boy was the idea of finally meeting his father.

_Haley still remembered the day last year Jamie came home and first asked about his dad. He was only three years old and she had picked him up from daycare when on the drive home, he asked where his daddy was. Haley fought to keep her emotions in check at the mention of Nathan as she drove and found a place to pull over at a small park they had been to a couple times. She silently lifted him out of his car seat and carried him until she spotted an empty bench not far from them._

_Rubbing his back softly, she turned him around in her arms so the little blue eyed boy was peering up at her. "You know, I think it's time I told you about your daddy. You're a big boy now, right?"_

_"Yeah! I use the potty!" Jamie exclaimed, extremely proud of his recent graduation from diapers to underwear._

_"That's right!" Haley laughed in response and took another moment to brace herself before speaking. "Your daddy's name is Nathan Scott. We were best friends when we were in high school in Tree Hill. We loved each other to the moon and back and one morning we found out that because we loved each other so much, a stork was going to bring us a baby."_

_Okay, so technically that was a lie, but Haley didn't know how to truthfully explain her and Nathan's situation to her three year old. It wasn't a complete lie when she said they loved each other, it just didn't happen to be the romantic type of love. Jamie wouldn't know the difference anyway._

_"A stork was bringing me?" Jamie asked slightly unconvinced._

_"That's right! But you know how Mama goes to school here in California with Aunt Brooke and Uncle J?"_

_"Uh huh," Jamie nodded._

_"Well Daddy goes to school like that, too. Except he stayed near Tree Hill and went to Duke University. You remember where I showed you North Carolina is on the map?"_

_"Yeah! It's waaaaaaaaaaay across from us."_

_"Yup! That's where he is right now. He plays on the basketball team there! It's really far away but he loves and misses you very much, Jimmy Jam. I promise one day when Mommy and Daddy both finish school you'll get to see him."_

_"I wanna play basketball like Daddy!" was Jamie's response to her little explanation._

_Haley chuckled softly and nodded. "I'll get Uncle Julian to teach you how to play, sound good? The season is almost over but maybe if there's a game of Daddy's that's on before your bedtime we can watch."_

_"Okay, Mama! Thank you, I love you! I can't wait to meet my daddy."_

_"I love you, too, sweetie and I know he can't wait either."_

_Haley continued to hold Jamie in her arms as he began telling her all about his day while she was writing one of her final exams of university. Her mind was still occupied with thoughts of Nathan and all she could do was hope she wasn't lying to her son. She prayed one day Jamie would be able to meet Nathan and they would have a fantastic relationship. She just didn't know when the day would come that she would be able to return to Tree Hill and face everything she left behind._

Although Jamie hadn't said anything about meeting his dad finally, she knew that was the most exciting thing for him. He hadn't brought up the subject to her since that day in the park. He heard her crying later that night and asked Brooke and Julian about it and it was then that her two best friends explained how much she missed Nathan and thinking about him made her sad. It was the simplest way they could explain the complicated situation to a little boy. The last thing Jamie wanted was to make his mother sad and vowed to not talk about Nathan in front of her. Every so often he would bring up the topic to Brooke or Julian curiously and then forget about it once he got his questions answered. Of course, her best friends always informed her when that happened later in the day but Jamie didn't have to know that.

The excitement visibly radiating off of Jamie was enough for Haley to know moving back to Tree Hill was a good thing. She had never seen her little boy so happy about something. Without ever having met anyone from there, Jamie loved all the people from her past that he'd seen pictures of numerous times.

Haley was still bent on her knees so she was level with Jamie and leaned forward to hug him tightly. She squeezed him as hard as she could without hurting him and kissed his face repeatedly. Just as the boy was upset over the prospect of being away from his mother for a week, Haley was having some difficulty as well. She trusted Julian with him, but she still worried non-stop about him when she wasn't around. This next week was going to be interesting to deal with not having her son with her.

"I love you, baby. I'll call you later on today, okay?"

"I love you, too," Jamie whispered lowly into her neck, his tiny arms wrapped tightly around her. Jamie kissed Haley's cheek and she let him go.

Julian had to practically push Haley out the door and into the moving truck, the entire time she listed off things he had to remember as though he hadn't been around Jamie almost every day for four years. Brooke was almost as difficult but managed to walk by herself. The two girls said good bye to their favourite men one last time before finally pulling out of the driveway. Silence quickly blanketed the truck as Haley became lost in her thoughts of Jamie and their impending arrival in Tree Hill and Brooke found herself lost for words of comfort for the first time in their friendship.

* * *

"Hour eight of forty six has officially begun," Brooke announced as she watched the clock change on the dashboard of the moving truck. Brooke sighed loudly at the silence she received from Haley as she drove on. "Okay, let me rephrase that then. Hour eight of forty six has begun and you still haven't said a single word."

Haley let out a deep breath and glanced at her best friend for a moment. "I'm thinking."

"Care to elaborate on that and maybe try thinking out loud?" Brooke asked. She knew her best friend had a lot on her mind but she hated when Haley shut down and kept to herself. It happened when they first moved to California and again when she found out she was pregnant. Brooke felt helpless when Haley got that way because she couldn't figure out a way to help her.

"I don't know what to say, Brooke. There are so many things running through my mind right now that I can't even begin to process one of them."

"Don't try to process them. Just talk, Haley. It'll help you. We've got another thirty eight hours in this truck for you to process what's going through your head, just start saying whatever comes to your mind and you'll work through it," Brooke tried to convince her.

Gripping the steering wheel, Haley tried to keep her emotions under control. "I miss Jamie," was the first thing that broke the silence. "This plan to be apart for a week is already killing me. I can't stand being apart from him."

Brooke wasn't surprised that the first thing out of Haley's mouth since they left was about Jamie. The type of bond Haley and Jamie shared was indescribable. Although she and Julian had been present as well, Haley was still a single mom raising the little boy every day. The pair was closer than any parent and child she had ever seen. Jamie loved his mom so much, she didn't think it was even possible for a little boy to love so much. Haley returned the adoration just as much, probably even more.

"Honey, it's going to be fine. I know you miss him but you can talk on the phone as much as you like. We're going to be so busy getting the house ready once we get to Tree Hill that the week will be over before you know it."

Haley nodded with a slight sniffle and tried to force a smile onto her face. She knew Brooke was right but it still didn't help her calm down. "I'm scared to go back there. Everyone is going to hate me and how will they react towards Jamie? I won't be able to live with myself if he gets hurt in all this."

There it is. Haley's mind wasn't running rampant with a million different things, it was one big thing. Of course, Jamie was at the centre of it. He was the reason she never returned to Tree Hill so she could protect her son from all the pain and drama that would occur. Now here she was returning against her better judgement and dreading having to see everyone from her old life. Dan and Karen Scott. Her parents. Quinn and her husband Clay. Lucas. Peyton. Nathan would be the hardest person to face. How was she supposed to explain herself? Five years of silence wouldn't exactly go over well with anybody.

"I really don't know what to say, Hales. We knew what to expect when we decided to move home and all I can tell you is that I'll be here with you every step of the way. Julian is too and you'll have Jamie like always being your little light of hope."

"He's such a good boy, Brooke. He doesn't deserve the kind of life I've given him," Haley's voice cracked as her emotions started getting the better of her.

Brooke looked at her best friend in complete shock. Never in all their years of friendship had she ever heard Haley sound so broken. "I don't want to hear you say those words ever again. Do you hear me? That little boy is so incredibly happy, he loves his life. Most importantly, he loves is mommy more than anything. Don't sell yourself short, Haley. You have sacrificed so much since you found out you were pregnant and you've given Jamie such an amazing life so far."

Haley shook her head in disagreement, apparently in the mood to argue with Brooke. "I could have done better. I should have gone against my judgement and went back to Tree Hill as soon as I took that pregnancy test. You say I sacrificed for Jamie, and maybe I did but I was selfish early on. It would have been best for Jamie if I swallowed my pride and went back home and told Nathan, but I didn't because I told myself California was for the best. I knew California wasn't the best thing for him though; I had worked so hard for Stanford and everything that I wasn't willing to give that up and do the actual best thing. Nathan had a right to know and my son had the right to grow up with a father," tears began slowly rolling down her cheeks as Haley venomously spat out what she believed to be her biggest shortcoming.

"Pull over," Brooke said softly, but in a tone that told Haley it wasn't to be fought against. The broken girl obeyed and put the truck in park on the shoulder of the highway.

The bench style seat worked out in Brooke's favour as she easily reached over and undid Haley's seatbelt and pulled her best friend to her. She had Haley's head resting on her shoulder and stroked her hair. "You listen to me, okay? I'm not going to ever have to say this again. You are the best mom in the world and you are more than devoted to Jamie. You always make sure everything you do is in his best interest and that's what you believed you were doing when you chose to stay in California. Maybe it was a mistake, but how can you say that when you don't know what would have happened if you decided to leave Stanford and go back home? I love Nathan, but who says he would have stood by you? I mean, he had a full basketball scholarship to Duke and he wasn't exactly the most stand up guy. You can't play the 'could've would've should've' game, Haley, it'll end up killing you. You did the best you could given the circumstances and I for one think you made the right decision with California. You provided Jamie with a stable life with love and happiness and that's all that really matters. Besides, he's only four years old. That's not growing up without a father. You're going home now and bringing him with you, he has the rest of his life to have Nathan be his father now. Understand?"

"Is Nathan really going to be there for him now, though?" Haley asked helplessly. She did understand what Brooke said and it made sense, but she still had her fears and doubts. "I've been keeping Nathan from his son for four years now. He's going to hate me. What if he takes that out on Jamie and refuses to have a relationship with Jamie. Not only would that kill me, Jamie would be devastated and think he did something wrong."

Brooke shook her head. "That won't happen. Nathan could never hate you, first of all. Second of all, he would have to be a pretty terrible person to reject his own child. Nathan was never exactly a saint in high school, but with a mother like Karen there's no way he would ever turn out completely evil or cold hearted. The second Nathan finds out about Jamie, he'll love him and want to meet him, I can guarantee it."

"But," Haley began but Brooke quickly shook her head.

"No. No buts, okay? I understand that you're worried and nervous to get back to Tree Hill and that's fine. Trust me on this though; Jamie is going to be fine in Tree Hill. His entire family is there and he's going to be incredibly happy to meet everyone. The rest will sort itself out."

"I love you," Haley said hoarsely, her throat feeling dry from the crying. Brooke didn't necessarily fix the problem, but her best friend of nineteen years could always manage to make her feel better.

"I love you, too. Now let's switch seats so I can drive. You need a break and I think it'd be a good idea if you slept for a while."

"No, Brookie, I'm fine. We agreed on five hour driving shifts so that means I still have two hours to go," Haley objected.

Brooke cocked her brow at Haley, a look that was meant to say '_Are you really fighting with me?' _Haley sighed when she saw it and silently conceded. Brooke smiled victoriously and skillfully moved her body behind the steering wheel as Haley situated herself on the passenger side and leaned against the window.

"You sure it's okay if I sleep? I can keep you company if you'd like."

"Nonsense, Hales. You're emotionally exhausted. You being awake isn't going to do any good for either of us. Get some rest, I can entertain myself."

"Okay. If Julian calls, wake me up."

"Duh, Teacher Mom. You would kill me if I didn't."

"Damn right I would," Haley smiled against the window and closed her eyes. Her mind was flooded instantly with images of Tree Hill and all her friends and family. She began wondering if they looked or acted the same. What did she miss while she was in California and since it was just her and Brooke returning first, how would everyone initially react? Unfortunately, she still had another thirty eight hours of driving to do with Brooke in order to get any answers to these questions. A part of her just wanted to get to Tree Hill for that. The other part wanted to turn around and go back to California again.

* * *

Brooke smiled widely as she took in her surroundings. "Can you believe we're finally home?"

"After driving across the country for two days, I thought we'd never get here," Haley replied in just as much shock.

The girls had been unpacking their new house for a few hours, wanting to start getting organized right away. Tree Hill hadn't changed in five years. When they drove through town on the way to their new house, it looked as though the small town had been trapped in a time capsule since they left. Haley felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety at being back in her home town after so long and seeing it look so exactly the same. Yet, at the same time she felt comforted by it. Living in California for five years made her forget the small town feel so it was nice to be back in Tree Hill again.

Their new house was a gorgeous mansion near the beach. Haley's jaw practically dropped when Brooke pulled into the driveway. Brooke had insisted on picking out the house for the four of them and refused to let any of them see any pictures of it until they arrived in Tree Hill. It was three stories with white vinyl siding and several balconies coming off the second and third floors. With an open concept floor plan, Haley could practically see every room of the main floor the moment she stepped foot through the door. She fell in love with house the second she walked in and could not wait to unpack and decorate the house with Brooke.

Brooke's parents were the only ones that knew Haley and Brooke were returning to Tree Hill. Victoria and Ted were living in Miami now and graciously offered to help pay for the new house, furniture, and another car so they wouldn't need to be moved across the country. The girls didn't want to accept it, but being recent university graduates didn't really give them a whole lot of cash to spare so they had to. Brooke made sure to ask her parents not to say anything to anyone in Tree Hill about their return, she wasn't sure how much they still talked to the James' and did not want to take any chances.

Haley had actually resorted to ducking her head down while driving through Tree Hill. Brooke had laughed hysterically while she did it but realized the weight of the action. Haley was petrified to see anyone from her past and Brooke realized she was going to have to physically force Haley to face her fears.

The girls were working on unpacking the kitchen as a loud grumble filled the room. Brooke looked at Haley with amusement. "Hungry?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," she laughed while rubbing her stomach.

"Well we could order a pizza? Or I can just go out a grab something quickly," she offered.

"Yeah, I'm kind of feeling Chinese. I would come with you, but," Haley trailed off and Brooke nodded knowingly.

"It's okay," she said and grabbed the keys to the car her parents bought for them. "I'll be back soon."

Brooke remembered all the streets of Tree Hill like she never left. She remembered the Chinese place her and Haley used to frequent on the corner of Front and Chestnut. They had the best Asian food in town, and that was all that Brooke could think about as the mouth watering smell of their food invaded her nostrils on the way back to her car.

"Brooke? Is that you?"

"Oh fuck," Brooke muttered and quickly unlocked the car. She threw the bag of food as gently as she could onto the front passenger seat, she wouldn't want to spill perfection. She put her sunglasses back on and started scurrying to the driver's side.

"Brooke!"

She couldn't ignore it now, not after her name had been screamed twice. Slapping a wide smile onto her face, Brooke turned around and waited a beat for recognition to pass over her face. She needed to at least act like she wasn't trying to get away. "Oh my God. Peyton, is that you?"

"Yes! What are you doing here?" her curly haired former friend began walking towards her, latte in hand.

"Uh, surprise! I moved back home."

"Are you serious? Is Haley with you? This is a shock. I mean, no one has heard form you guys in five years and now all of a sudden you're back?" Peyton asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Hales is with me. I know it was kind of a spur of the moment decision. We just got back today and starting to get settled in."

"This is great! I finally have my two best friends back! Oh God, Luke and Nate are gonna freak out, I gotta tell you that they aren't very happy that you two haven't kept in touch. It sucks, you know? All of a sudden we all go off to college and never hear from you guys again."

"We're sorry about that, Peyt. Things happened and we just lost contact," Brooke apologized, she didn't know how to explain the loss of contact without getting too specific.

"It's okay, Brooke. I understand and I'm not mad anymore. I used to be, but I've gotten over it. Is Haley back at your house? I would love to see her again too."

"Yeah, she is but she's really tired. I don't know if she'll be up for a visit already," she tried to lie. Haley would no doubt not be ready to face anyone this soon.

"Oh come on, Brooke! It won't be that long, I'm sure Haley wouldn't mind that much."

Brooke sighed, unable to think of a suitable lie to keep Peyton away and nodded reluctantly. Peyton clapped her hands excitedly and Brooke couldn't help but be reminded of her own giddy behaviour of her high school self. It was funny to see Peyton acting this way now. The blonde got into the car happily and Brooke slowly got in as well. Haley was going to kill her the second Peyton left the house and an angry Haley was a scary Haley.

Unfortunately, the drive back to her new home was a short one and before she knew it Brooke was leading Peyton into the house. Brooke put her finger to her lips, silently telling Peyton not to speak and Peyton nodded excitedly catching onto the element of surprise.

"Brooke? Can you put the food down and come to the upstairs hallway? I wanted to start getting Jamie's room ready for him and I need your help moving the boxes!"

Brooke winced and knew this was not going to end well but she couldn't find it in her to formulate a response.

"Brooke?" Haley yelled again and the newly arrived pair could hear her footsteps coming closer to the stairs. Her form was soon in view as she descended and froze when she saw Peyton standing next to her best friend. Her face paled and she gripped the railing tightly.

Peyton looked between Haley and Brooke with incredible confusion. They both looked extremely on edge and appeared to be having a very serious silent conversation as they stared at each other. It felt like there was something she didn't know and she figured it had something to do with this Jamie character. "Who's Jamie?"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Brooke?" Haley yelled again and the newly arrived pair could hear her footsteps coming closer to the stairs. Her form was soon in view as she descended and froze when she saw Peyton standing next to her best friend. Her face paled and she gripped the railing tightly.

Peyton looked between Haley and Brooke with incredible confusion. They both looked on edge, like there was something she didn't know and she figured it had something to do with this Jamie character. "Who's Jamie?"

"He's, um, just some guy," Brooke tried to stammer out her lie. As soon as she heard the words leave her mouth she cringed, knowing they were not at all believable.

"Brooke," Haley shook her head in protest of her friend's decision to lie. "There's no point trying to lie to her when everyone's only going to find out the truth anyway."

"I know," Brooke agreed and shrugged lamely. "I don't know what I was trying to do. I just didn't know how you wanted to handle it."

"I still don't know how I want to handle it," Haley confessed and descended the remaining stairs so she was now standing next to Brooke. "I've been trying to figure it out for two weeks since I agreed to move back here and I've still got nothing. I guess there's no time like the present, huh?"

"I'll be right beside you the entire time," Brooke tried to comfort her as best she could. Shrugging an arm around her shoulder, the two girls leaned their foreheads together silently.

It was something they, Jamie, and Julian had taken to doing when Jamie was getting big enough to hold his head up. He would frequently lean his forehead against whoever was holding him and stare into their eyes intently. It was unnerving that a baby could have such a strong stare but each of them also found it comforting. As the little boy grew, it became a gesture of love and comfort, they would lean their foreheads against one another's and stare into their eyes to express the love they shared.

Peyton cleared her throat uncomfortably after a few minutes of watching Haley and Brooke stare at one another. It really started to creep her out, what with the intense staring and small smiles spreading across their faces as Brooke whispered extremely lowly and rubbed Haley's arms. They looked like intense lesbian lovers right now, she felt out of place standing next to them. The intrusion seemed to snap her former best friends out of whatever daze they were in and they turned their attention back to her.

"Why don't we all sit down," Brooke suggested lightly and she led the way over to the couches already set up in the family room.

Peyton took a seat across from the two girls and looked at them expectantly. She was beginning to become impatient, now really wanting to know who this Jamie person was that they seemed so anxious when Haley first brought him up. "So... who's Jamie?"

Haley sighed deeply. This wasn't really how she pictured revealing Jamie's existence. First, she was hoping she'd somehow get the chance to tell Nathan before everyone else. She felt he had the right to find out before anyone, but that wasn't going to happen anymore. Secondly, she didn't think she'd be accidentally bringing Jamie up. She wanted to take a day or two to figure out how to drop the bomb on Nathan and everyone else in the easiest way possible for all them. So far, her hopes were zero for two and they had only been in Tree Hill for a few hours. That's got to be some sort of sign that this was a horrible idea, right?

"Jamie is my son," she finally revealed after briefly trying to mentally prepare herself for the backlash she knew she was most likely going to receive from every person she told about Jamie.

"I'm sorry, what?" Peyton responded in shock. There was no way Haley just said she had a kid. Not good old tutor girl, not in a million years would Haley get herself into that situation.

"My son, Peyton. As in I got pregnant and had a baby," she tried to explain it as slowly as possible seeing the obvious shock and confusion written all over Peyton's face.

"No, I think you're mistaken because there's no way the Haley I knew would wind up pregnant. Are you sure you're not just covering for Brooke or something? No offense, Brooke but if it were to happen to anyone I'd expect it more from you. I mean, you're Haley James! You would never let yourself get knocked up, you had too many goals and dreams!"

"Yeah, well things happen Peyton," Haley replied a little too harshly. She couldn't help it though, the blonde was basically implying that having Jamie ruined her life and prevented her from doing anything she aspired to. She would not just sit back and let someone call her little boy a mistake or anything else negative. His presence in her life was the exact opposite. Jamie was the best thing that ever happened and seeing his face everyday only made her want to achieve her goals even more, so she could provide the best life possible for both of them.

Peyton seemed to sense that she offended Haley and looked apologetically at her old friend. "Sorry, I'm just really surprised. I didn't see that one coming. When did it happen?"

"You mean when did I get pregnant?" she tried to clarify and Peyton nodded. Haley did very well at disguising her wince at the question so only Brooke noticed and she wrapped an arm around Haley's back softly. Peyton didn't think twice about the gesture, seeing it as one of mere support and friendship, instead of silent comfort. "It was just a half-drunken night during frosh week. He was a nice guy, but nowhere near father material. I never told him I was pregnant to spare both of us the drama and eventually decided against adoption the second I heard his heart beat during my ultrasound."

"Why didn't you ever tell any of us?" Peyton asked softly, the hurt shining through her voice. Haley could tell she was upset at being kept in the dark; she thought they were closer than that.

"I knew the second I told anyone that was still living in or around Tree Hill that you'd all try to persuade me to come home so I could be with people that loved me. That's not what I wanted or needed though. I wasn't going to let getting pregnant keep me from getting my degree, especially when it would be essential in order for me to provide for Jamie. I know it was cruel of me to keep you all in the dark, but I did what I had to do to give Jamie the best life I could. Besides, I wasn't alone in California. I had Brooke there with me and Julian was there every day too, he's helped a lot and been an amazing male figure for Jamie to look up to."

Peyton could only accept Haley's explanation as she couldn't find a valid argument. She was hurt that such a big secret was kept from not only her but everyone in Tree Hill, but she understood why Haley did it. She was right, they would have forced her back home in a heartbeat and it probably wouldn't have done any good. Haley seemed like she was doing really well and most importantly she seemed happy, her face lit up the entire time she was talking about Jamie.

"Julian, huh? Another secret kid?" Peyton teased lightly, wanting to kind of move away from the more heavy part of the topic at hand.

"He might as well be, he pretty much acts like he's a kid ninety percent of the time," Brooke joked right back, glad to be moving away from the explanation of why they did what they did in hiding Jamie. She knew it was necessary until Haley told Nathan first, but she still hated having to lie some more.

"Oh, please like you are one to talk. If my memory serves me correctly, I think I can remember more than several occasions where you and Julian are the ones organizing little plans with Jamie to gang up on me when you two adults want something," Haley cocked an eyebrow with a playful challenge.

"Hey! Did I ever say I didn't act like a kid, too? Did you hear me say that, Peyt?"

"Nope, I didn't."

Brooke stuck her tongue out at Haley in triumph. Haley rolled her eyes good naturedly and pushed Brooke over onto the arm rest of the couch. After nearly two weeks of Haley being worked up and tense over the impending move, it was nice to finally feel a little bit of a release and get back to her playful, light hearted self a little.

"Anyway, care to brief me on Julian? Obviously he's not an actual kid."

"He's our other best friend. We met him during freshman orientation and we've pretty much been inseparable since then. The three of us and Jamie all lived together sophomore to senior year and then we got a house after graduation. He's still in California with Jamie for the rest of the week, but you'll meet him when he gets here."

"You'll love him, P. Sawyer. Julian's a really cool guy. Not to mention he's not hard to look at, at all."

"I can't wait to meet him," Peyton said, from the little bit of information they gave on Julian, he sounded like a good guy for them to have around. "It's not like it would matter if he's hot, I'm a taken woman," she smiled widely and held up her left hand. A diamond ring sat prominently on her finger and Haley and Brooke both gasped.

"No way! Who is it?"

"Uh, it's Lucas actually," she confessed somewhat uncomfortably. Lucas was Brooke's ex-boyfriend so she wasn't sure how her former best friend would feel about the engagement. Seeing Brooke's eyes shining with happiness for her though, she knew that was all water under the bridge.

"Congratulations, Peyton. We're really happy for you guys."

"Thanks. He proposed a few months ago. We're still in the beginning of planning, but I was hoping I'd be able to get in touch with you two somehow. I know we haven't talked in five years but you guys have always been my best friends. I really wanted you both to be at the wedding and it would mean even more to me if you'd be my maids of honour?"

"WHAT?" Brooke practically squealed and jumped off the couch, throwing herself across the open space into Peyton's arms. "Of course we will! Awe, we love you, P. Sawyer."

Haley echoed Brooke's sentiments but managed to keep herself from leaping into the blonde's arms. When Brooke had finally calmed down over attending a wedding for the first time in years, she resettled onto the couch next to Haley and folded her hands in her lap like a well behaved child.

"So his name is Jamie? Jamie James?" Peyton brought back the subject that was still very much at the forefront of her mind, chuckling at the name. It was very similar to Haley's father's name James 'Jimmy' James. She thought that was hilarious the first time she heard the man's name.

"No," Haley laughed along with her. "I wouldn't do that to my child. He has is father's last name."

"But I thought you said you never told his father you were pregnant?" Peyton pointed out.

"Yeah, but I decided I still wanted Jamie to have some sort of connection to his dad. He deserved that much and someday if Jamie ever wants to meet his dad, I still know how to get in touch with him and Jamie's name will let him know I wasn't disregarding him or trying to keep Jamie away from him. The choices I made were because I felt it would be the best for everyone involved, including Jamie's father."

"What's his name?"

"Who?"

"Jamie's dad. You keep referring to him as 'Jamie's father' but what's his actual name?" Peyton asked curiously.

Haley swallowed thickly and shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about him. Things are complicated between us and I don't really like discussing him."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry for bringing it up then."

"It's fine. But Peyt, I need you to do me a favour."

"Yeah, anything."

"Please don't tell anyone about Jamie. I want to let everyone know on my own time, in my own way. I'd really appreciate it if you just didn't say anything."

"Haley, you're going to have to tell everyone eventually," Peyton was reluctant to agree.

"Please just do this for me, Peyton. I need to be the one to tell everyone. I'm not going to wait forever, I'm just going to need a few days tops to get myself ready for it."

"Okay," she gave in. She didn't want to have to keep secrets from the people she loved, but she understood where Haley was coming from. It was a big thing to be coming back to town after five years with, it made sense that she'd need a few days to gear herself up for revealing her big secret. Hell, she herself had been angry with Haley when she first found out and she'd probably have the mildest reaction of everyone left to tell.

Peyton glanced at her phone for a moment and groaned when she noticed the time. "Oh shit. I was supposed to meet Luke for lunch at Karen's fifteen minutes ago. I've got to get going. Actually, you know it would be awesome if you two came with me! Luke will be so happy so you!"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Brooke began to decline the offer when she saw Haley's face pale at the idea of seeing another person from her past, and possibly two if Karen was at the cafe as well. On their first day back, one person was probably enough.

"Oh, come on! Please? We still have to catch up so much, I've got to tell you five years worth of Tree Hill gossip , please!"

Brooke looked to Haley for the decision to be made. She was the one would get to decide since it was her with the secret to keep from the people she would be seeing. They'd both face hell from whoever they encountered over not being in contact since they left, but Haley was Brooke's primary concern right now. Peyton was flashing them a very convincing puppy dog/sad eyes look and Haley was struck with all the times Jamie had used a similar look on her to get what she wanted. It was a look she could never ever say no to. This was why she found herself sighing and slipping on her shoes a second later. Brooke smirked at her knowingly and grabbed Haley's hand, squeezing it in her own and walked beside her best friend to their car. Haley was going to need her support over the next week to face everyone in Tree Hill and reveal Jamie to them and Brooke was going to be at her side every single second of it.

* * *

If Tree Hill looked as though it had been frozen in time for the last five years, Haley had no description for how Karen's Cafe looked. It had literally not changed one bit. The tables were still in the same places, the same books were scattered across said tables, even the menu was exactly the same. It was nice to be back in the cafe where she spent so much of her high school years hanging out in, but it was also very discomforting seeing how little it had changed.

Haley spotted Lucas immediately as though her eyes were moving themselves. His back was to them, but she would never mistake that short, dirty blonde hair messily styled on his head. Looking around, Haley was relieved to notice that there were only two couples occupying the cafe with them. She didn't want to have to deal with a busy restaurant and get the town gossips exercising their mouths at the knowledge of her return with Brooke. It may have been five years, but Haley knew for sure news would always spread like wildfire in this town.

Peyton turned to them with an excited smile, having no clue how anxious both girls were now feeling. She gestured to them with her hands to stay behind her obviously wanting to create an element of surprise for her fiancé. She walked across the cafe to him and Haley and Brooke stopped several feet away so they were out of direct view.

"Hey, baby!" Peyton greeted with excitement and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "I've got a surprise for you."

"Is that why you're late or did you pick up a surprise because you're late?" he responded in a light tone, letting her know he wasn't mad.

"They would be the reason I'm late."

"They?"

"Close your eyes," Peyton smiled at him cheekily and he did so immediately, very intrigued by the surprise. "Now stand up and turn around."

When Lucas had obliged easily, Peyton waited a few moments and took his hand. "You know you're kinda freaking me out here."

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Lucas took a moment blink, his eyes needing a second to readjust to the light. It only took another millisecond for him to process who was standing in front of him. Two women he had accepted he would probably never see again, and yet here they were before him. "Oh my God," he muttered in shock.

"Hey, Luke," Brooke greeted him with a small smile and closed the gap between them as she wrapped her arms around his large frame.

When they pulled away Haley stepped into Brooke's previous place and smiled into Luke's shoulder. "Hi, buddy."

"Uh, hi," he managed to splutter out, still quite shocked to see them. Despite feeling nervous and uncomfortable being back in the cafe, both girls had to laugh at Lucas' reaction. The boy they knew back in high school was always calm and collected, this was definitely a change. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked after they had all taken a seat in the booth.

"Surprise! We decided to move home" Brooke said with excitement, trying to diffuse his anger before it really had a chance to escape. As his former girlfriend, Brooke knew that Lucas could have a temper when he wanted to and she suspected now would be a time it might come out.

"Just like that? You guys alienate everyone completely and after five years you decide you can just come back and act like nothing happened? Un-fucking-believable."

"We're not acting like nothing happened , Luke," Haley sensed Brooke's tactic and joined the effort. They could fight with Lucas and try to argue with him as much as they wanted, but that's not how they wanted to deal with their homecoming. They knew they were in the wrong so they're goal was to just try and keep everyone as calm as possible. "What's done is done though; none of us can change the past. We came home hoping for a fresh start, not so everyone could just be mad at us in person."

"Well that's too bad, because I am pissed off at both of you. We were all good friends and all of a sudden you two move across the country and become too good for us small town folk? You cut us out of your lives out of nowhere, it was cruel and it hurt a lot."

"And we're sorry for that, but like Haley said, we can't change the past."

"Why did you do it?" Lucas asked harshly. "There has to be an explanation for cutting off communication, never answering any of our calls or texts, never coming home for the holidays. It's like you guys disappeared."

Haley looked to Brooke with panic reflecting in her eyes. They hadn't really discussed an explanation story in depth, only that they got busy with school and didn't have time. Clearly, sitting in front of Lucas they were now realizing how horrible that cover story was and it would never fly with anyone. They needed to think of something a lot better, quickly.

"It's complicated, Lucas."

"Well uncomplicated for me."

"Babe, calm down," Peyton jumped in. She could sense that Brooke and Haley were trying to think of something to tell Lucas as Haley apparently wasn't ready to reveal the truth quite yet. She wanted to buy them a bit of time. "There's no use getting angry at them, it won't get us any closer to getting some answers."

Lucas shook her off and looked expectantly at the two women across from him. He observed them intently as they seemed to be silently communicating between each other. Brooke looked pretty well the same as high school, except she had cut her hair a bit shorter and styled it differently. Haley still had long, wavy locks but they were now a darker brown instead of blonde. Her fashion sense had also noticeably changed, as had Brooke's into a more mature look with the same carefree attitude being given off as they had in high school.

"You see, when we moved to California everything changed for us. For the first time in our lives, we weren't in or near Tree Hill and everyone we loved. It was really hard for both of us to swallow that we couldn't just go home if we missed you guys. Haley became depressed missing everyone and I started turning to drinking a lot to cope without my best friend to lean on. We both wanted to come home so badly, but after how hard we worked to get into Stanford we couldn't bring ourselves to give it up. So we did the thing we thought would make it easiest for us to be successful: cut off communication. If we had of kept talking to everyone at home still we would have just missed you all even more and would never be able to actually live our lives in California. We were also both in pretty dark places for a while and didn't ever want any of you guys to see us that way and didn't want to drag anyone down with us when we were basically in a downward spiral."

"That was the dumbest thing you two have ever done, and I've seen you do some pretty fucking stupid things when you're drunk together," Lucas commented.

"We know that and now that we're home again we regret it so much. While we were in California and missed you guys after we got through the first six months, we wanted to talk to everyone. The only reason we didn't was because we were afraid it would put us back at square one and that's a place we never wanted to go back to," Haley continued on with their fabricated story.

Haley glanced at Peyton for a second and was surprised to see a somber look on the girl's face. Despite knowing the real truth, Peyton looked like a part of her was actually beginning to believe her and Brooke's story they just managed to pull out of their asses. She knew she and her best friend had become very good liars in high school but she never realized she was _that _good.

Lucas sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair roughly. He looked at his two former friends sadly and smiled softly at them. "I'm glad you're both home. We've missed you."

"We've missed you, too," Brooke smiled widely and grabbed Haley's hand under the table with a light squeeze. It was her way of telling Haley they did a good job.

"In celebration of you both being home again, we should all get together for dinner soon! You guys, me, Peyton, and Nathan, just like old times."

"Uh, yeah that sounds good. Give us a few days to get settled in and we'll set up a date," Brooke reluctantly accepted. She couldn't reject Lucas' offer though, that would surely only cause more anger from him and she had no reason to give him as to why they couldn't have a group dinner.

"Okay, great! Now, I want to her all about your lives in California. We have a lot to catch up on," the man smiled at them. He was back to being his usual Lucas self, kind and warm.

The girls sat back in the booth and carefully pieced together information about their life on the west coast over the last five years. They made sure to keep anything remotely related to Jamie very far from the conversation and tried to keep talk to school life strictly. Despite somewhat foul beginnings with both Lucas and Peyton, Haley and Brooke had to admit they were glad to be back at home. They missed the small town more than they thought and found themselves forgetting about the drama they were sure to face in the coming days. Instead, they enjoyed themselves as they caught up with two olds friends like they didn't have a care in the world.


	5. Chapter 4

I just wanted to say thank you for all your continued support. I received a review asking me to make this story longer than the planned 10-15 chapters and unfortunately I'm sticking with my original plan. I know the story I want to tell and the last thing I want is to drag it out and make the story less than what it can be. I wasn't really feeling great about this chapter, something just wasn't in me to want to write but I think it turned out okay. I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless and good or bad, please let me know what you think!

* * *

Chapter 4

"You ready for this, Hales?"

"I don't think I'll ever be ready to see anyone to be honest," she shrugged and Brooke smiled at her wryly.

"Should we just rip the band-aid off then?"

"We might as well. How bad could it even be? They're my parents so it's not like they can hate me. Plus, they've never been the angry type, they'll more likely just make jokes about my idiocy, right?" Haley reasoned with a deep breath.

Haley and Brooke had been parked outside the James' residence for almost ten minutes. Haley had sat gazing at the house while biting her lip nervously for the first five minutes until Brooke finally asked if she wanted to go in. Haley responded with a soft 'no' and fell silent again until Brooke once again spoke. She needed to get Haley out of the car. If they stayed much longer, Lydia or Jimmy were bound to notice they were sitting in the driveway doing nothing. Surprisingly, Haley seemed to be amping herself up a bit and talking herself into going into her childhood home.

When she opened the car door and stepped out, Brooke's shock almost prevented her from noticing Haley walking up the driveway and standing in front of the door after ringing the doorbell. Brooke clumsily raced out of the car and to the door, not wanting to miss the reunion with the James'.

The door opened and both girls took in the sight of Lydia James. Despite the look of complete shock, she looked the exact same as she did five years prior. She blinked furiously for a moment and turned her head to look down the hall behind her. "Jimmy! I think I snorted too much crack this time, I'm hallucinating!"

"You're not hallucinating, Mom," Haley laughed softly. Her parents were always well known for their eccentricity and sense of humour, it was nice to see some things would never change.

"My God, I'm not, am I?" Lydia muttered to herself, blinking rapidly a few times. "My Haley Bop is finally home! JIMMY!"

Haley smiled widely, excitement of seeing her mom after so many years flooding to the surface. "Hi, Mom," she said softly and moved into her mother's open arms.

"What are you yelling at me about now," Jimmy came down the hallway grumbling. He stopped in his tracks when he saw his wife pulling out of a hug with a very familiar brunette, with another recognizable brunette standing happily off to the side.

"Hi, Daddy," Haley greeted and hugged him next, giving Brooke the chance to hug Lydia.

It was safe to say that the James parents were in shock at the sight of Brooke and Haley in their front hallway. For once in their lives, the parents were speechless, staring at the two girls.

"Why don't we go sit down?" Brooke suggested. The James' agreed and the group made their way to the living room and took seats on the couches.

Lydia smiled widely at her daughter. "This is certainly a nice surprise. You should have called and told me you guys were finally coming back to visit!"

"Actually, it's not a visit," Haley corrected. "Brooke and I decided to move back home for good."

"Honey, that's amazing! We've missed you so much. Where's our grandchild though? You know your father and I have been waiting to meet the little boy or girl since the day you called from California to tell us you were pregnant and weren't coming home," Lydia shot out eagerly. Haley's parents were the only people in Tree Hill that she told about her pregnancy. When she first found out, all Haley wanted to do was talk to her mom and try to figure out what she was going to do. Naturally, the information was also passed onto her father.

"He'll be here at the end of the week. He's still back in California with a friend until Brooke and I have our new house ready."

"He?" Lydia asked for confirmation. "We have a grandson?"

"Yeah."

"Did you hear that, Jimmy? We have a grandson! Oh my God, I can't wait to meet him."

"I can't wait for you guys to meet him."

"Well you know, we could have already known him for four years now," Jimmy mentioned.

"Daddy," Haley sighed tiredly. She was already sick of having to justify her actions to everyone in Tree Hill. Couldn't they all just respect her decisions and not question them? She made the choices she did because they were in her and Jamie's best interest, why did that require some long drawn out explanation? "Can we not go there? I don't want to fight with you guys right when I come home."

"She's right, Jimmy. We haven't seen our little girl in five years; let's not start a fight right away. We'll get answers to all our questions soon enough."

"Thanks, Mom," Haley said gratefully. She also took a moment to smile at Brooke next to her. Her best friend had yet to contribute to the conversation, but wanted her to know that she didn't forget her presence and appreciated it.

"Do you have any pictures of the little guy? I'd love to see what he looks like!"

Haley nodded and reached into her purse. "Yeah, I think I have a couple with me."

Lydia smiled excitedly and moved across the room to sit next to her daughter on the couch. Jimmy followed suit and took a seat next to Brooke so the two girls were still next to each other. "You've been awfully quiet so far, kiddo. I don't think I remember you being so silent, normally you were always a chatterbox!"

The two James women in the room had now turned their attention to Brooke and she shrugged softly. "This is your guys' reunion, I'm just here for moral support."

"Nonsense, honey. You know as well as we all do that you're an honorary member of the family, you have been since you and Haley Bop first became friends when you two were four!"

Brooke smiled slightly at her 'family' and thanked the heavens for having them in her life for as long as she had. "I know that, but this is more about Haley. She's my best friend and I've missed you guys too but you also need your explanation from her, not me. We've got plenty of time to catch up!"

The James parents accepted her answer and Lydia went back to urging Haley for a picture of her grandson. When Haley finally dug the pictures of Jamie out of her wallet, she handed one to her mother and another to her father. They gasped and cooed at the sight of him and Haley swore Jimmy had tears in his eyes.

"Cute kid, whose is he?" a voice sounded from behind the couch and walked around it so the four occupants could see who it was.

Haley's eyes bugged out of her head. Her older sister was standing in front of her next to a hot guy she assumed to be her husband. "Quinn?"

"Oh my God," Quinn muttered to herself. "Haley? I didn't recognize you from behind, you changed your hair! And Brooke, holy crap!"

"Hi, Quinny, are you surprised?" Haley said happily and stood up with Brooke to hug her sister.

"You could say that! How long are you staying for?"

Haley smiled coyly. "How does for good sound to you?"

"You're coming home?" she asked in shock.

"Yep!" Brooke and Haley both exclaimed and Quinn pulled them back into her arms in excitement. She was so happy to hear that Haley and Brooke were moving back to Tree Hill. Haley had always been her closest sibling due to their ages and she was ecstatic to finally have her baby sister home.

Next to Quinn, the medium height, dirty blonde man stood quietly. "You must be Clay?" Haley assumed.

Clay nodded and smiled back at her. "And you must be the infamous Haley that no one's heard from in five years."

"The one and only," she responded lightly. "This is my best friend, Brooke Davis."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Brooke shook his hand politely. "You know, I've been trying to picture Quinn's husband since the day Hales got that e-mail invitation to the wedding!"

"Well you know, you both would have met Clay two years ago if you ever responded to my e-mail and came out for the wedding," Quinn pointed out, a hint of anger evident in her voice. Quinn was usually the calmest of the James siblings, but she was clearly hurt by her sister's actions.

"Quinn, Haley Bop has her reasons for not coming back and never contacting us," Jimmy defended. He was actually probably the one that understood Haley's actions the most for some reason and was willing to go to bat for her against anyone. He was only hurt that he had already missed the first four years of his grandson's life. He also wished he could get his hands on the loser that knocked her up in the first place, he had a few things he wanted to say to that guy.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

Haley silently grabbed the picture of Jamie from her dad and passed it to Quinn. She watched her sister's brow furrow deeply and look up in confusion. "What does some picture of an adorable little boy have to do with anything?"

"He's my son, Quinn," Haley supplied softly. "He's the reason I never came home or kept in touch. I was protecting him."

"Oh my God, you're not joking," Quinn's face dropped and she frantically thrust the picture into Clay's hands, needing someone else to see the picture and confirm she wasn't dreaming.

"No, I'm serious. I have a son."

"I can't believe this. How old is he?" Quinn asked still trying to sort through her shock. "And why do Mom and Dad not look surprised?"

"He turned four about a month ago. Don't be mad, but Mom and Dad were the only ones that I ever told. I had to talk to them when I first found out because I was going insane. Plus, they never would have let me skip the holidays without a good reason."

"Wow," Quinn muttered and flopped down onto the couch across from the other four. Clay took a seat next to her and tried to figure out a way to get her back to normal, he had never seen his wife so out of sorts. "So that means you got pregnant like right when you moved to California."

Brooke looked to Haley questioningly. Now was the time she had to decide whether or not to keep lying to her family or to come clean completely. "Actually, it was before I even left to Tree Hill," she confessed. Although Haley wanted Nathan to be the first one to know that he was Jamie's father, she couldn't find it in herself to continue lying to her family.

"What?" they all questioned in surprise. "Who's the father?"

Haley sighed and ran a hand through her hair nervously. "Does it matter?"

"Haley," Lydia replied evenly. It only took her saying her daughter's name to get across the family's response. It did matter.

"Please don't tell anyone," she began weakly and everyone – minus Brooke – looked at her with concern. "It was a stupid mistake on my last night in Tree Hill at the end of summer party. We were both drunk and I let myself be alone with him and one thing led to another."

"Honey, just tell us who it is."

"Nathan Scott," Haley whispered faintly but still everyone managed to pick up her words.

"Oh my God," Lydia said more to herself in shock, breaking the silence that had befallen.

"And he has no idea, does he?" Quinn asked.

"No. I made the decision to raise Jamie on my own when I found out I was pregnant. Nathan had a full scholarship from Duke, I didn't want to interfere with his dream."

"He wouldn't have turned his back on you, if that's what you were afraid of," Clay contributed to the conversation for the first time and Haley looked questioningly at him.

"How do you know? No offense, but I don't think you know anything about it."

Haley was slightly annoyed by Clay's words. She had just met this guy and he was acting like he knew exactly what Nathan would have done. He didn't and who did he think he was to be voicing his opinions?

"I coach the Ravens basketball team with Nathan. We've been doing it for a year together and we're close friends now. I'm just saying he's not the kind of guy that would turn his back on you."

"Maybe not now he isn't. You didn't know him five years ago. Even though he was one of our good friends, it's no secret that Nathan had no interest in being tied down to a girl, so there's no way he would be able to undertake the responsibility of taking care of a child. Haley did what she had to do," Brooke spoke, also feeling irritated by Clay who obviously needed to keep quiet. He was for all intents and purposes, the new kid in town. He had no idea the group's history, dynamics, or what they were like in high school and Brooke felt a striking need to defend Haley and make Clay aware that his input wasn't needed.

"Okay," Clay threw his hands up in surrender. "Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about. Didn't Nate have a right to know he had a child though?"

"Of course he did, but I can't take it back now. I did what I thought was best for all of us and that's it. I'm here now and I have every intention of telling him obviously and letting him be a part of Jamie's life."

"His name is Jamie?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah. James Julian Scott," Haley smiled at her father, knowing he would be touched by the tribute to him and their family.

"I think that's a great name for him, sweetheart. And I have no doubt you did a wonderful job raising him."

"Thanks, Daddy."

"I just want to know why you went to such great lengths to keep him from all of us," Lydia said with a touch of hurt.

"I didn't want to risk word getting back to Nathan. I'm naive, I know when he finds out about Jamie he's going to be pissed and probably take it out on me. I didn't want him to find out from someone other than me and have him come storming to California or something. It was all so I could protect Jamie from getting hurt, I had no idea what could happen if I told anyone here."

"You shouldn't have gone about it that way, Haley. Keeping secrets like that just isn't you, and it wasn't fair to us," Quinn said sadly.

"I'm only twenty three years old, I don't know how to handle every situation perfectly! All I can say is I'm sorry," Haley shrugged. "I don't know what else you want to hear."

"There isn't anything you can say, Haley. You kept a member of our family a secret for the last five years and you're still keeping him from the people that deserve to know."

"Quinn, my primary focus since the day I found out I was pregnant has been Jamie. You guys obviously don't agree with my decisions but I was only trying to protect my son from pain. I never once kept you guys from him, he knows all about every single one of you and I knew one day he would get to actually meet you. I had to finish school first so I could provide a life for him and I'm here now, doesn't that all count for something?"

"Of course it counts, honey," Lydia tried to soothe her noticing that Haley was beginning to lose control of her emotions.

"We're not angry at you, Haley," Quinn tried helping her remain calm as well. "I understand why you chose to keep us all in the dark, it sucks and it hurts though. I just can't wait to meet the little guy and be the best aunt ever. Where is he?"

"He's still back in California. He'll get here at the end of the week with our other best friend Julian."

"His arrival is greatly anticipated," Jimmy smiled widely; he couldn't wait to meet his grandson. Sure, he already had a few grandchildren courtesy of his older kids, but Haley's son was special. Jimmy and Haley always held a special bond – maybe because she was the baby of the family he wasn't entirely sure – which made him even more excited to meet little Jamie.

Haley heard the remaining members of her family echo her father's sentiment and she couldn't feel happier. Knowing Jamie would be arriving to be surrounded by love made her feel overwhelming relief. Now that she had revealed the whole truth to her family, she could sit back next to her best friend and enjoy being in the company of her parents and sister for the first time in five years.

* * *

Haley walked down the deserted hallways of Tree Hill high and felt memories come flooding back to her. Since graduation, she had done well at keeping her memories at bay and successfully avoided thinking about her past as much as possible. Being in the school itself now though, every defense she had built up to keep the memories out was definitely too weak to withstand the nostalgia.

She was excited to be walking down the halls again though, she felt at peace being there. Hopefully she'd be spending more time in her old high school. Her interview with Principal Turner had just gone excellently and he had pretty much offered her a position as an English Lit teacher, they just needed to go over some logistics and she'd be set.

Although Tree Hill high could be considered a maze-like school with many different hallways and such, Haley found herself walking through easily. It felt as though her feet were the ones doing the thinking and she smiled reminiscently when she saw the gym doors coming into view. She had spent a lot of time in the gym after Brooke made them try out for the cheerleading squad in sophomore year. Brooke had always enjoyed cheering a lot more, but Haley found herself having a lot of fun with it as well, it was especially nice when Brooke became captain in senior year and named her co-captain.

As she began walking further down the hall to inspect the gym, the doors opened. She was now staring directly into the eyes of the one and only Nathan Scott while for some reason, her feet sped up their pace to get to him faster.

"Haley?"

"Hi, Nathan," she smiled nervously. The butterflies in her stomach made it feel like it was churning and she was sure she was going to puke at any second. This was definitely not how she pictured seeing Nathan for the first time.

"Wh – What are you doing here?" he stuttered in shock.

"Didn't Lucas tell you? Brooke and I decided to move home and it looks like I'm going to be teaching English Lit here."

"No, he didn't mention it," Nathan ground out, angry at his brother for keeping Haley's return a secret. A little warning would have been nice. "It's really great to see you though, we've all missed you two."

"Yeah, I'm happy to be home. I can't stay and talk though, I'm supposed to be meeting Brooke and Peyton for lunch. We're having dinner at our new house tomorrow, we were gonna do just the five of us like old times. It'd be great if you could come," she found herself saying the last part despite the extreme anxiety she was feeling at being back in his presence.

Nathan Scott had always had a powerful affect on her, and it was multiplied now that she was keeping the huge Jamie secret from him. In this short encounter she found herself trying desperately to hold back from spitting out the information like it was keeping a bad taste in her mouth. She knew that would be the worst way to go about things though and dug deep to find the restraint she needed.

"Yeah, I can't talk either, I have to get back to the team," he motioned back to the gym and Haley now became aware of the yelling of teenage boys and the bouncing of basketballs on the hardwood floors. It was a sound she was very familiar with from high school and she smiled at the thought. "I'll definitely come to dinner tomorrow; I'll just hitch a ride with Luke and Peyton. I'm really glad you're home, Hales. It hasn't been the same without you," he said softly and moved in awkwardly to give her a tight hug.

Nathan conveyed just how much he missed her in the short embrace and Haley became even more put off by him when it ended. He looked at her intently for a moment and Haley got the strange sense that he was going to move in to kiss her cheek or something and wanted to avoid that at all costs, she couldn't afford to get herself sucked back in by his friendly gestures and charm. With that in mind, she took a discrete step back and returned his smile. "I should go. It was good seeing you, too, Nathan. I'll see you tomorrow."

And then she bolted. She had made it from their first encounter unscathed, but that didn't really calm her nerves of being in Tree Hill considering she hadn't dropped the bomb on him about the child he fathered. She got the very clear sense that Clay was correct in saying Nathan was a good guy now. He no longer came off as a jackass player and had become more of a stable guy that had no doubt started accepting commitment and maybe even started thinking about finding a girl to settle down with. Hell, maybe he had already found a girl worth settling down with and she was storming back into town just to throw a truck sized wrench into his life. One thing was for sure, if she hadn't already known, it became clear that telling him about their child was going to be one explosive event.


	6. Chapter 5

Wow okay, feel free to openly hate on me for taking so ling to update either one of my stories. I seriously suck. School literally took over my life and it still pretty much is but I managed to find some time to write this one. I really hope I don't take another few months to get another update out but who knows what'll happen. I hope you guys like this one though and let me know what you think, it helps me write!

* * *

Chapter 5

"This was the worst idea in the world!" Haley screamed. "Why, why, why did we agree to this?"

"Maybe because Lucas wasn't going to take no for an answer," Brooke said obviously. Haley of course, already knew why they had agreed to Luke's idea of having a little reunion. Their blonde haired friend was quite angry with them at the time already, he wasn't going to back down from the idea and fighting it would only piss him off more.

"Well this whole night is a horrible idea. Why can't we just call them and cancel?" Haley whined. She was having serious doubts about going through with the dinner. In fact, she had been having them since the second Lucas brought up the idea.

Brooke rolled her eyes and flopped back onto Haley's bed. Her legs hung off the edge and she swung them back and forth. "You know as well as I do that whatever reason we'd give for cancelling wouldn't be good enough, they'd show up here anyway."

"Well I don't care. We have to cancel and then we'll just go out somewhere and not come back until late tonight. If they show up here at all, it's not like they'd wait around until we get back."

"Haley," Brooke shook her head, even though her friend couldn't see the gesture.

"Brooke," Haley mimicked her best friend's stern tone. She continued to rifle through her closet, looking for something to wear to the stupid dinner party. She must have gone through every article of clothing she owned at least three times and found nothing that would suit the occasion.

"This is about Nathan, isn't it?" Brooke assumed and jumped off the bed. She was sick of listening to the hangers screeching as Haley moved them quickly around her closet.

Haley stopped her frantic motions when she heard Brooke enter the closet behind her. She turned around with a defeated expression. "Well yeah, it's obviously about Nathan. How am I supposed to deal with him being in our house for hours when I could barely stand being around him for a couple minutes?"

"Okay, first of all," Brooke said and moved past Haley to her clothes. She made quick work of finding a simple, black halter neck cocktail dress. "You are going to wear this with your yellow stilettos. Keeping it classy with a hint of playfulness. Second, you're going to be fine. It's not like you and Nathan will ever be alone, I'll stay by your side the entire time and you've got Peyton and Luke to act as buffers too."

"I know all that but it doesn't stop me from being anxious about it. I mean, seeing him at the high school the other day was hard enough, how am I supposed to last a whole night? I haven't figured out a way to tell him about Jamie yet, but I know I can't lie to him for long. It's too hard."

"I know, Sweetie. We'll figure something out soon, okay?" Brooke spoke softly.

"He's gonna hate me, Brooke," Haley's voice cracked, indicating just how much the thought pained her.

"Hey, no he won't. That boy has been in love with you since high school, it'd be impossible for him to ever hate you."

Haley kinked a disbelieving brow at her best friend but let her claim go. Haley knew very well that Nathan wasn't in love with and never had been, otherwise he would have never said sleeping together was a mistake. Nope. He definitely was not in love with her; Brooke was just too busy partying all through high school to see things properly. Nathan hadn't ever given Haley a second glance, except at the end of summer party when he was plastered and slept with her.

"Now, put that dress on stat because they're going to be here soon and we need to start getting dinner ready so this thing can go by as quickly as possible."

Haley listened to Brooke and quickly threw the dress on and slipped the stilettos onto her feet. She took a moment to examine herself in the mirror and was happy with what she saw. She opted to go with minimal make up tonight and keep her hair down in her signature simple waves. She wanted to keep things as simple as possible and hoped that the theme of her look would transfer onto how the night could be described. Simple and smooth.

When the sound of the doorbell rang out moments later, both girls froze. Brooke cursed looking at the clock. "Well I guess they decided to show up early. You ready for this?"

"God no," Haley shook her head but still followed Brooke down the stairs. She stood back and watched her best friend swing the door open with baited breath.

Her eyes locked with his dark blue ones first as though there was a magnetic force between them. She smiled kindly at him and diverted her gaze to Peyton and Luke quickly. There was silence among the group for a moment until Brooke broke it and invited their guests inside. Simple pleasantries were exchanged somewhat awkwardly and the two girls led everyone into the kitchen where they could catch up while getting dinner ready.

"So have you guys gotten all settled in now?" Lucas asked, smiling in thanks at Haley as she passed him a beer.

"We're getting there. We still have to get everything properly organized but the unpacking is finished for the most part."

"That's great you guys."

"Yeah, I think it'll take another couple weeks to get completely settled in but already this place feels like home again," Haley commented fondly.

"See, now aren't you glad I finally convinced you to move back with me?" Brooke bumped her hip with Haley's as they stood next to each other at the counter preparing their meal.

Haley stuck her tongue out at Brooke and continued to chop vegetables. "Please, it's not like convincing me was a huge job."

"Yeah sure, if you call a blow out fight not a huge job," Brooke countered and cursed inwardly at herself for letting that bit of information slip. Peyton was aware of their situation and the conflict with returning, but Lucas and Nathan didn't need to know that part yet.

"You didn't want to move back, Hales?" Nathan spoke for the first time since arriving.

Haley didn't know whether to cry or smile at hearing him use her nickname so easily still. The part of her that was completely in love with Nathan wanted to smile like a complete idiot, but the part of her that had been keeping his child from him for years wanted cry at how kind his voice and words were towards her with the knowledge that as soon as he found out about Jamie she wouldn't hear that kindness possibly ever again.

"Not really, no," she shrugged honestly seeing no reason to try and back track from what Brooke let slip and make up a lie for it.

"Why not?" his eyes seemed to only be focussed on her and she found it unnerving at how intensely he seemed to be looking at her.

Everyone else's attention was also on Nathan and Haley and they could sense something tense about the interaction.

"I don't know, I guess after moving to Palo Alto and living there for five years I fell in love with California. It became my home and I didn't want to leave."

"So that's why you just never came back for five years then? I don't buy it and I don't buy what you told Luke and Peyton about missing us all so much that keeping in contact would do more harm than good. So come out with it, why did you two really never come back, call, or even write? You left all your friends and family behind; didn't we mean anything to you?"

Haley was taken aback by his sudden outburst and the anger she found herself facing. His words pierced her heart and she felt her eyes beginning to water slightly. "Of course you meant something to me," she spoke with conviction and it was clear she was now speaking only to Nathan and referring directly to him in that statement.

"Well you have a funny way of showing it, don't you?" he shook his head tiredly and took a long swig from his beer. He didn't even know how his anger surfaced so suddenly. He had been bottling up the anger and hurt for years and all of a sudden Haley was back in front of him, it was almost uncontrollable at this point.

Haley's mouth opened and she was on the verge of replying to him when she felt Brooke place her hand on her forearm. Haley locked eyes with her and shut her mouth again before she said something she shouldn't. Instead, she turned her back on the group to the oven and checked on the roast she had in it and took a moment to recollect herself.

"Why don't we just not talk about Haley and I's lack of communication since we left? I realize you all have your questions and feelings that you need to get out, but it's going to be an argument I'm sure and that's not what tonight is supposed to be. Let's focus on the present and just catch each other up after being separated for five years, okay? We can get to the other stuff at a later date."

"Good idea, Brooke," Peyton agreed instantly after seeing how affected Haley seemed to be by Nathan's words and how quickly things between the two of them managed to escalate. She didn't want any fighting tonight either.

Haley remained silent and Nathan grudgingly nodded in agreement when Peyton kicked his shin under the table. Lucas followed along with his brother to avoid any physical harm as well, even though he wanted answers just as much as Nathan did.

"So, Hales I heard you had an interview at Tree Hill high?"

"Yeah," she smiled thankfully at Lucas for changing the subject. "Turner said it's pretty much guaranteed, he just has to talk to his bosses for the green light and then I'll officially be the new English Lit teacher."

"That's awesome, Haley. Congratulations!"

"Thanks guys, I'm just happy it happened so quickly. I just want to start teaching finally, I loved student teaching so much it's exciting to get to do the real thing now."

"You'll do great."

"What about you, Brooke? What are your plans now that you're back here?"

"Well I've been wanting to start up my own clothing line since college and I figured now is the best time to do it. I'm gonna hopefully open my own boutique and sell my clothes," she explained in excitement.

"Really?" Peyton asked intrigued. "Do you have a name for it yet?"

"Clothes over Bro's," she smiled with pride, it had taken her weeks to think of the name and she adored it.

"Ouch," Lucas held his hand over his heart in mock hurt. "That's insulting!"

"Oh shut up, Luke! There are some exceptions because I have a few boys that are near and dear to my heart all the time."

Haley smiled knowingly at Brooke; it was obvious she was speaking mainly of Jamie and Julian. They were family, of course they were the exceptions. She then turned her attention back to Nathan for a moment and noticed he had an unhappy expression painted across his face, he hadn't said another word since Brooke put an end to their beginning argument. This was not an ideal situation at all. She hadn't even begun to broach the topic of Jamie and he was already pissed at her. How was she supposed to tell him now without having him completely lose it?

"Does Julian happen to be one of those boys?" Peyton asked curiously.

Brooke shrugged, "he might be."

"Wait, who's Julian?"

"Our best friend," Haley explained easily. "You guys will actually meet him at the end of the week, he's moving here with us."

"Really? Just a best friend?"

"Yes, Lucas. There's no need to go all protective brother on us. Julian has actually managed to fill that overbearing role very well over the last five years."

It looked as though an expression of hurt flashed across Lucas' face for a moment before it was gone again. Haley realized her words might have given Lucas the idea that he had been replaced in their lives and it was true to an extent, both her and Brooke had found a new male best friend. She couldn't change that and she wasn't about to take it back either, Julian had been with them through a lot and she didn't know where she would be without his presence. Lucas would just have to get over it.

"I look forward to meeting him," he smiled tightly.

"You guys will love him," Brooke enthused. "He's a great guy with a really good personality. Not to mention he really knows how to have fun no matter what's going on."

"He sounds just awesome!" Nathan finally piped up, albeit to only add a sarcastic retort.

Brooke chose to ignore Nathan's tone though and smiled widely. She threw an arm around Haley's shoulder playfully and decided it was okay to throw in a little dig at Nathan. "Yeah, he is. We met right when we moved out to California and the three of us have been inseparable since, although at one point I thought for sure it wasn't always going to be that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, just that Julian and Hales here got a little more than friendly with each other for a bit and I was pushed to background," she felt Haley tense next to her and also the sharp kick to her shin from her best friend upon the words reaching the surface. Brooke also saw the vein in Nathan's neck seem to bulge in anger and jealousy and she smiled inwardly to herself. What she said was nowhere near truthful, but he didn't have to know that right now. He deserved a little bit of torture for being an ass to Haley.

The oven timer sounding broke up the awkward silence that had blanketed the group and Brooke immediately perked up again. "I guess that means dinner is ready!"

Brooke and Haley moved easily through the kitchen to gather all the food and then placed it on the table. Everyone seized the opportunity to pile the delicious looking food onto their plates and begin eating without a second thought.

"Why don't you guys tell us about California? I want to hear all about it!" Peyton broke out excitedly once maintaining a steady pace of eating.

"It was amazing," Brooke immediately began to gush. Their time in California had truly been extraordinary. Although it would never replace North Carolina in their hearts, it was a very close second. "Stanford was phenomenal, one of the best experiences of my life. California is a whole other world; it's nothing like it is here. Not to mention almost every guy is drop dead gorgeous and an actor. I swear Peyton, it's like guy heaven there."

Peyton was lost in her imagination of Brooke's description of California. She was only brought out of it by the sound of Lucas' grunt next to her; she smiled apologetically at him and focussed her attention back on Brooke. "Please tell me you slept with them?"

"Of course I did! That shouldn't even be a question, P. Sawyer."

"Yeah, Brooke definitely made her rounds in California," Haley muttered in amusement. Her friend's sexual antics if possible got even crazier once college started.

"Whatever, you're just jealous that you never got the chance to," Brooke stuck her tongue out playfully at Haley.

"Hardly."

Of course, while Brooke had been out on the town with a new boy every time, Haley had been back home spending her nights with Jamie and on occasion, Julian. She had everything she could ever ask for and besides a few dates that never amounted to more than a good night kiss over the five years, Haley's life had revolved completely around Jamie and getting her degree. She certainly wasn't jealous of Brooke's experiences in California and was just thankful she got to do what she wanted and also share her life with her best friend. Brooke was more than aware that the last thing Haley was interested in was going out partying with some random guy to get laid. She didn't care about that kind of stuff once she became a mother. They led completely opposite lives in California and yet somehow the two girls made it work.

"What were you up to while Brooke was out partying then, Hales?" Lucas asked curiously. He knew Brooke was definitely the bigger party girl of the two, but in high school Haley was always at her side anyway. He couldn't think of a reason for that changing once they reached college, in fact he would have expected it to continue in similar fashion to high school and maybe find Haley enjoying parties more.

"She had a boy that she always stayed in with," Brooke revealed and couldn't help giggling at her ability to subliminally tell them about Jamie.

Haley swore she could kill Brooke right now. She didn't mind her best friend making jokes about her lack of social life ever since she had Jamie when it was just the two of them, but when other people were around she didn't appreciate that being revealed. Especially in this situation when they were with their three old friends and Nathan was sitting right across from her. Obviously he wouldn't assume Brooke was talking about their son but no doubt the subject of a man in her life would cause some questions and who knows where that would lead.

"Brooke," she spoke in a warning tone and cut her eyes discretely at the girl.

"What? It's true!" she continued on, ignoring Haley's hint to drop the subject.

"Boyfriend?" Lucas assumed.

"Something like that," Haley tried to shrug indifferently. She didn't want to outright lie to their faces, but obviously couldn't completely deny Lucas' assumption without having to offer an explanation. It had been an ongoing joke between her, Brooke, and Julian that Jamie was like Haley's little boyfriend in college when the other two were going out on actual dates and she was spending all her time with her boy.

"Something like that?" Nathan repeated harshly. "Was he your boyfriend or not?"

"No. He wasn't. Happy?" Haley retorted coldly, unable to let his hostility slide.

Nathan folded his arms across his chest and diverted his gaze angrily from her. Ever since he first opened his mouth tonight it seemed like he'd been looking for reasons to be angry at her and start a fight. It just didn't make sense to her and it scared her to death at the thought that she hadn't even told him about Jamie and he was already being so cold and hostile with her.

"Okaaay, Peyton broke in awkwardly sensing the tension rolling off Haley and Nathan in waves. "Well after hearing about California, I'm dying to see any pictures you guys have, and also hear all the stories that go with them!"

"I don't know," Haley objected. "I have no idea where we put any of the photo albums; it would take us forever to find them for you guys. Maybe another day."

"Come on Hales, you're like the most organized person on the planet! I'm sure you have a general idea of where you put them," Lucas added, showing his enthusiasm of seeing pictures of the last years of his friend's lives.

"Not really, everything was so hectic before moving that I kind of just threw everything into boxes," she explained and tried desperately to get Lucas and Peyton to drop it. If she got photo albums out, almost right away Jamie would be present. At first it'd only be when she was pregnant and that gave away enough to them. No, looking at pictures was a horrible idea.

"Nonsense, Hales. We both know they're probably in Jamie's box of his favourite things. That little boy loves looking at all our old pictures whenever he can!"

Haley's face paled when she heard Brooke's words and she watched her best friend's face contort into shock herself. Her eyes began welling up and she covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head profusely. "Oh my God, Haley I'm sorry."

Haley was completely frozen. She couldn't seem to speak or hear anything at all. Somehow her eyes managed to find Nathan's and she felt her heart break into a million pieces when she saw the shock and hurt on his face. It was gone a second later and replaced with anger, but she knew she had seen it and that alone was enough to kill her. She had already hurt him and that was the last thing she wanted to do coming back to Tree Hill.

When she watched his mouth open, her senses seemed to come back to her. Without even hearing the words she knew what was coming and tried to brace herself for the impact. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion as he still failed to get his words out. From beside her, she could hear Brooke beginning to cry and apologize over and over again. Lucas was looking at the both of them confused and Peyton looked sadly at Haley, trying to convey her sympathy.

Finally, Nathan's voice broke to the surface and Haley was once again able to shut out everyone else around them to focus on him completely. He at least deserved her undivided attention for this.

"Whose Jamie?" his voice came out raw, like his throat was dry and he physically struggled to get the words out. She knew that deep down, Nathan knew who Jamie was to her but that wouldn't stop him from asking and that definitely didn't mean she could ignore the question.

She didn't want to answer though. Her answer was going to shake his world and she just didn't want to hurt him. All those years of keeping Jamie for him, not only was she trying to protect Jamie but she didn't want to cause Nathan any pain either. It was a twisted way of doing so, but she always had his feelings in mind and he was the only man that had ever been in her heart. How do you go about knowing you're about to change someone's life forever and most likely lose the only man you've ever loved?

Haley swallowed thickly and licked her too dry lips, deciding to stop avoiding the answer and let the words out. "He's my son."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Haley's words seemed to lay a deafening silence on the room. No one spoke or dared to even move a muscle as they each looked to Haley with shock, anger, or sadness. Haley looked down at the plate in front of her; she couldn't stand to meet any of the looks being thrown her way. The worst one was Nathan. He looked so angry and hurt that she began to feel physical pain from him.

Her mind began to flash to Jamie and how now that her secret was out, she was bringing him to a live in a war zone. As soon as word got out to everyone that she kept Nathan's son from him for five years, complete strangers in Tree Hill would be involving themselves and taking sides. News travels fast in a small town and even faster when it involves two of the most well known families in the place. Nathan and Haley were lucky enough to be two of the most popular kids on high school so everyone their age knew their names and were always desperate to know the happenings of their lives. The James and Scott clans as a whole were both staples of Tree Hill, known for their extremely friendly attitude towards everyone as well as their successful business ventures and presence in the small town.

She could just imagine this whole situation turning into something out of The Scarlet Letter where she walks down the street with everyone knowing her crime and shunning her and Jamie for it. What was she ever thinking when she allowed Brooke to convince her to move back to Tree Hill. Nothing good was going to come from this.

"Okay, I'm really fucking confused," Lucas finally broke the silence and Haley winced at his words. Lucas was not one for profanity so she knew he was definitely pissed off about the new development. "How the hell does Haley have a son and why are we just finding this out now?"

Brooke couldn't help roll her eyes at his dumb ass question. "Well you see Luke, when a boy and girl have sex, there is a risk of pregnancy," she spoke in a dumbed down tone to get it through his thick skull.

"Fuck off, Brooke. Obviously I know that. What I meant was when did all this happen?" he retorted with more anger, the confusion at the situation clearly getting to him. Peyton put an arm on his bicep in an attempt to calm him down but he shook her off almost immediately, in no state for being soothed.

Sensing that she wasn't having any effect on Lucas, Peyton tried another tactic. Haley and Brooke had already explained to her the situation with Jamie's father and she didn't want Haley to have to rehash that story to Lucas and Nathan all over again when it was clear she was very uncomfortable talking about it. "Do you have any pictures of the little guy, I'd really like to see him."

Haley smiled graciously at her old friends, catching on to how she was trying to deflect the attention away from Jamie's father. Unknowingly of course, Peyton was allowing Haley to take a little more time before telling Nathan that her surprise child is also his. "Yeah, I have a bunch. They're upstairs so let me just grab them."

"I'll help you," Brooke volunteered and rose quickly from her seat to escape the suffocating air in the room.

Haley followed her best friend up the stairs moments later and as soon as they reached Jamie's room and boxes, Brooke looked at the woman across from her and couldn't stop her lip from quivering. Haley watched the tears begin to form in her eyes and she ran a hand through her thick locks in exhaustion. "Don't even say it, Brooke."

"Hales," Brooke's voice cracked slightly. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to let it slip like that!"

"Stop it, Brooke. I don't want your apologies because there is nothing you can do or say that will take back that we just dropped a fucking bomb down there. Not to mention that was probably one of the worst ways Lucas and Nathan could have found out about Jamie," Haley used a tone that made it very safe to say she was livid with her best friend.

"Haley, you have to forgive me. I'm sorry, you don't even know how much!"

"You could've prevented it, Brooke! You've been crossing the line since the night started. Making comments about Julian and I, how I spent all my time at home with a boy in California, the fight about moving back here. Those are all things that you should've never said because they are none of anyone's business down there, but you did anyway and the more inappropriate you got, the closer it became to just telling them I have a kid! Oh wait, you did that though, didn't you?"

Brooke was shocked by Haley's cruel outburst. She realized her slip-up was a major mistake but she never anticipated such extreme anger from her friend. Brooke couldn't remember ever seeing Haley so mad over the course of their friendship and that let her realize the true severity of her actions. Haley had been freaking out about returning to Tree Hill and telling Nathan about Jamie since the day she found out she was pregnant and here she had just let out the Jamie secret non-chalantly over dinner. It really was a horrible way to let the truth out and now Haley had to go back downstairs and figure out a way to undo the damage that was probably already done. No doubt the cogs in Nathan's head had been turning since the mention of Haley's son and he was bound to piece it all together sooner rather than later.

So much for everything going smoothly on the high school friends' first night back together as a group. Brooke needed to figure out a way to cause the most minimal blow out possible once Nathan put everything together. Since she was the one that had done the very untimely announcing, it was now up to her to fix it for her best friend and fast.

Brooke sighed as she fished through boxes silently and picked out their old photo albums. "You're right. I'm a dumb bitch and should have just practiced keeping my mouth shut until you were ready to tell them about Jamie. It was an honest mistake and I feel horrible about it. I promise I'll do whatever I can to help fix it."

"That's the thing though, we can't fix this," Haley replied in defeat. "I wanted to hopefully get him alone and get some solid ground between us before I told him. It's over now though, he's going to find out as soon as we look at the pictures and I start answering more of Lucas' questions. This is a complete disaster and now it's guaranteed that Nathan is going to hate me."

"Look at me Haley," Brooke physically forced her chin up when she didn't respond to the verbal command. "This mess is my fault and I promise you I will do whatever it takes to make sure Nathan never hates you. Do you believe me?"

Haley remained silent as she tried to process everything that was running rapidly through her mind. Over and over again, Nathan and Jamie's faces were flashing and all she wanted was to someday see the two together and happy with her with them as well. She wanted so badly to listen to Brooke and believe that her and Nathan would be okay, but she couldn't find it within her to do it. If the roles were reversed, she couldn't see herself ever forgiving Nathan for keeping a colossal, life changing secret from her, so why should she expect him to forgive her?

"I don't think I can, Brooke. There's no possible good outcome of this. I'm not angry at you, regardless of how he found out it would have ended in a disaster. It's my fault I'm even in this situation to begin with because I'm the one that chose to keep Jamie a secret for all these years. I'm just scared and I took that out on you, sorry."

"It's okay," Brooke nodded in understanding and wrapped her arms around Haley tightly. "Everything is going to be okay."

A knock on the bedroom door had the two girls jumping apart quickly. They turned and saw Peyton standing in front of them with a concerned look. "Is everything okay? We could hear you guys yelling and then it went silent. I came up to make sure you hadn't killed each other."

"Yeah, um everything is fine. Thanks, Peyton," Brooke answered easily while straightening herself out as a nervous habit. She and Haley were both praying to God they hadn't heard too much of their fight or Nathan wouldn't even need to figure anything else out since he heard them screaming about Jamie at each other.

"Okay," she replied slightly unconvinced but didn't dare push the subject. "Do you need help bringing the photo albums down?"

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks."

The blonde woman grabbed one of the albums in view and watched Haley and Brooke do the same. The three girls walked silently back down the stairs and to the dinner table. Nathan and Lucas were also silent as they watched them enter and everyone could tell that Lucas was still pissed off, while Nathan sat at the edge of the table with an unreadable expression.

"Sorry it took so long, we couldn't find them," Brooke offered a weak apology quietly and sat down.

No one responded to the words and all three girls took their previous seats again. Haley sighed deeply and flipped open the first album that began with displaying her, Brooke, and Julian at the beginning of freshman year before Haley was even showing. She continued flipping through the pages until she reached the point where new born Jamie was scattered all over every page. She couldn't even try to hide her smile upon seeing the pictures. It had been so long since she had looked at them and she loved seeing her little boy so tiny, time had flown by and part of her missed when he was baby because everything seemed so much simpler then.

"What's his name?" Lucas couldn't hide the curiosity from his voice as he craned his neck slightly to get a better look at the pictures.

"Jamie. I named him after my dad," Haley replied and turned the page again so Jamie was now a little bigger and clearly progressing into a toddler.

"That's nice," Lucas smiled at her. They had been quite close during high school and he under stood the connection Haley had to Jimmy James very well for some reason. As mad and confused as he was, he could appreciate the gesture Haley made to her father.

"How old is he?"

"He turned four at the beginning of June."

"Oh wow. So that means you had him, what, the end of freshman year?" Lucas deduced after doing some quick math.

"Yep. I found out I was pregnant about a month into the fall semester and Jamie came right after classes ended for the year. Actually, my due date was at the end of May but he came late."

"Talk about good timing," Peyton laughed. "Of course your son wouldn't be born until summer started for you! Classic tutor girl."

Brooke laughed loudly at Peyton's comment; it had been something she had been saying for years herself. She thought it was absolutely hysterical that Jamie arrived two weeks late, only after Haley finished all her exams.

Out of the corner of her eye, Haley noticed that Nathan was also looking at the pictures as she flipped the page again. He was trying to act aloof and uninterested in the topic but she could see otherwise. He wouldn't look for too long at a time, but he was taking in each picture carefully nonetheless. She snapped out of her thoughts about Nathan when Peyton's gasp sounded through the room. Haley looked at the woman and saw that her eyes were locked on the photo album and Haley saw that they had arrived at pictures of Jamie very much a young child.

"He's the cutest thing I've ever seen! And if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's Luke's kid, Jamie looks like his twin!"

Peyton's comment made Haley stiffen in discomfort but she wouldn't allow any of them to notice. It was a harmless comment but could easily cause Nathan's brain to start turning even more.

"The boy's a lucky kid. He's sporting the good ol' baby blues, keep an eye out for those Hales. They've been known to get Nate and I whatever we want over the years," Lucas smirked as he also observed his spitting image. Peyton was still in shock at the similarity and hastily thrust a picture at Nathan to make sure he could take in the anomaly as well. "Where is he though?"

Haley was grateful for the subject change and smiled at Lucas. "He's still in California with Julian, so Jamie will be coming with him at the end of the week."

"A little father and son time before moving across the country, that's cool. I can imagine you two girls keep them on a pretty tight leash normally, must be nice for them to be without you," Lucas winked and laughed at his jab at them. Since beginning to look at the pictures his anger seemed to have dissipated and he was relaxing with his old friends again.

Brooke glared at him and stuck her tongue out. "Very funny, Pucas! We're not that bad; I think you forget who you're talking to. Haley and I were always the life of the party in high school, what makes you think we've changed so much?"

"Doesn't matter," Lucas shugged. "C'mon Nate, back me up. I love mom but it was always awesome when she had to leave town and it was just us and dad. There's something more fun about it just being the boys for a bit."

"Yeah, sure," Nathan added half heartedly. He was still captivated by the picture Peyton passed him. He couldn't tear his attention away from the smiling little boy.

"Well I doubt it's going to all that fun for our boys. Jamie is probably miserable without Haley around; they've never spent more than a few hours apart from each other. He's the biggest momma's boy I've ever seen," Brooke commented and Haley smiled slightly, feeling a dull ache in her heart at the thought of her little boy being upset right now because she wasn't around. She had been missing him dearly since the second she and Brooke pulled out of their California driveway. Talking to her boy on the phone every night was not even close to the same as actually being with him. He had told her he missed her every time, but she knew that he was trying to be brave and would never admit to her or Julian how much he actually did right now.

"Awe, poor little guy. I'm sure Julian is an adept enough dad that he can handle it for a few days though," Lucas sensed Haley was becoming upset at the topic of being away from her little boy and tried to comfort her.

She widened her eyes a bit after finally processing Luke's comment and realizing he had made the father mistake already. She should let it slide and take his assumption as an opportunity to buy herself more time to figure out how to tell Nathan but somehow couldn't find it in her. For one, Peyton was sitting right across from her and already knew Julian wasn't Jamie's dad. Also, for some reason Haley found herself unable to do that to Nathan. It wouldn't be fair of her to say Julian was the father and then turn around at some point and tell him she was lying to his face to save her ass for a bit. "Oh no, Julian is just a friend of ours. He's not Jamie's father. In fact, I was already pregnant when Brooke and I met him."

"Wait, didn't you say the other day that you guys met Julian during freshman orientation week?" Peyton pointed out in confusion. "And isn't that also when you told me you got pregnant? How could you know you were already pregnant when you met him?"

Haley was beginning to panic as Peyton unknowingly caught her in her lie. Her entire life had become one big lie to everyone in Tree Hill over the last five years and now all her deceit was catching up to her really quickly. "Well I didn't know yet obviously, but Jamie was conceived off a one night stand at the beginning of the week and we met Julian later on."

"Oh," she replied simply, somehow not quite believing what was being said.

Nathan stared at Haley intently and saw the discrete looks passing between her and Brooke and knew she wasn't telling the truth. He looked down at the picture in his hands again and Jamie's blue eyes jumped off the paper at him. He was transfixed by them while trying to process all the information he knew about the little boy. He was the result of a one night stand, had piercing blue eyes, and was supposed to be born at the end of May; which meant he would have been conceived in... August. Nathan knew Haley pretty well and he was aware that she wasn't the type of girl to sleep around. A one night stand with a stranger was definitely not her thing, but that only provided one other solution and he wasn't prepared to acknowledge that. It was impossible. The more he examined the picture though, the more he could see the plausibility.

"Unless he was actually conceived before you even got to California," Nathan muttered while looking Haley dead in the eye for the first time. He saw her face pale and it was all but confirmed to him. Somehow, he had a child. Not just any child though, he was the father of _Haley's_ child.

Pushing his chair out slowly, he never broke eye contact with her. Tears were beginning to pool and he couldn't bear looking anymore but he couldn't find it in him to look away. Confusion, anger, and heartbreak all churned in the pit of his stomach uncontrollably. "Excuse me, I think I need some fresh air."

He stood and walked briskly out of the room, ignoring Haley's call for him to stop. Finding the back door was easy and he gasped for breath upon stepping outside.

Haley remained at the table and put her head in her hands in defeat.

"Okay, now I'm really confused," Peyton spoke up. Why had Nathan just muttered something about Jamie being conceived before Haley got to California and then left?

She didn't get a response out of the brunette though. Haley silently followed Nathan's actions and practically sprinted out of the room, leaving Peyton and Lucas sitting in bewilderment and Brooke rubbing her temples in exhaustion.

It didn't take long for Haley to spot Nathan. He had only walked to the other side of the pool in the large patio. He whirled around upon hearing the door open and close and flashed angry eyes at Haley. He held up the picture he had been holding at the table and thrust it in her face, pointing at the little blonde boy.

"Is he my fucking son?" he screamed at her, unable to hide the cracking of tears in his voice.

Haley took a deep breath and ran a hand through her already messy hair. This was probably one of the worst ways she could have imagined telling him about Jamie.

"ANSWER ME!" Nathan demanded after she made no indication of giving a response to his question.

She locked eyes with him and he saw that tears were already rolling down her cheeks, much like on his own face.

"Yes," was her single-worded broken response and he immediately felt as though he couldn't breathe. He and Haley had a son together. The information kept running through his head and he couldn't form any other coherent thought to formulate a response to her. All he could register was gut wrenching pain and burning hot anger at being kept from his son for four years.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

She was a mess. After sleeping/crying in her bed for nearly twelve hours, Haley still couldn't shake her devastation. She had effectively destroyed any hope of ever having a somewhat normal relationship between her, Nathan, and Jamie as a 'family' last night. Not only had he realized his connection to Jamie before she could actually talk to him, but to say Nathan was upset is an understatement. Nathan hated her, he wanted nothing to do with her and to tell the truth, she didn't blame him one bit. At this point, Haley hated herself too.

Hell, even Lucas and Peyton said they felt betrayed and the situation has absolutely nothing to do with them. Her life had crumbled in the space of one evening. She knew it was going to happen at some point once returning to Tree Hill, she just didn't realize it would be to this degree.

The absolute worst part of the entire thing is that Haley realized after only an hour of crying that she has no one to blame but herself in this situation. Her actions and decisions over the course of the last five years are what got her here. Not Brooke, or Julian, or even Nathan's contributions to the entire thing. Sure, they each played a role in how she reacted to everything life threw at her but it ultimately all rested on her shoulders. Which is why Nathan is allowed to hate her for the rest of eternity. She alone hid his child from him for years when he was the only person in the world with the actual right to know about Jamie.

If the situation had been reversed and Nathan was somehow able to hide Jamie from her, she couldn't even imagine how she'd react. Probably an overwhelming mixture of anger, betrayal, and devastation. That also pretty much summed up the things Nathan touched on or subliminally got across when he was screaming at her last night.

* * *

_It didn't take long for Haley to spot Nathan. He had only walked to the other side of the pool in the large patio. He whirled around upon hearing the door open and close and flashed angry eyes at Haley. He held up the picture he had been holding at the table and thrust it in her face, pointing at the little blonde boy._

_"Is he my fucking son?" he screamed at her, unable to hide the cracking of tears in his voice._

_Haley took a deep breath and ran a hand through her already messy hair. This was probably one of the worst ways she could have imagined telling him about Jamie._

_"ANSWER ME!" Nathan demanded after she made no indication of giving a response to his question._

_She locked eyes with him and he saw that tears were already rolling down her cheeks, much like on her own face._

_"Yes," was her single-worded broken response and he immediately felt as though he couldn't breathe. He and Haley had a son together. The information kept running through his head and he couldn't form any other coherent thought to formulate a response to her. All he could register was gut wrenching pain and burning hot anger at the knowledge of Haley keeping something so huge from him for four years._

_"Oh my God," he whispered breathlessly and felt himself stumble back a few steps. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."_

_"Nathan, please just let me explain," she choked out, feeling his rush of anger swirl up an incredible guilt and shame in her stomach._

_"Explain? What the fuck is there to explain, Haley? Everything is pretty clear to me. We fucked, you got pregnant, and then just decided to keep that minor detail from me for five years. You basically chose to make the kid a bastard, don't you think there were other ways to deal with the situation?"_

_Haley fought against her urge to get right back in his face and managed to take a step back. Nathan was pissed and hurt and yelling back at him in defense would surely only make things even worse. She sat down on one of the nearby patio chairs silently and rubbed her sweaty palms over her dress clad thighs. She was hoping if she gave Nathan a minute to process everything that maybe he would be able to actually listen and talk to her semi-calmly._

_She understood where he was coming from and that the initial shock was probably causing him to say things he didn't necessarily mean. He was completely caught off guard tonight and really had no way of processing the fact that out of nowhere he has a four year old son. Anyone would have a harsh reaction to that kind of news, but she still wished he didn't react with such anger._

_In truth, she was hurt. The way he was speaking to her and his obvious anger was making it seem like not only was Nathan pissed that she hid Jamie from him, but also that Jamie existed in the first place. She remembered the way he was in high school; independent, partier, lacking any true feelings for anyone. Clay said he wasn't the same guy now, but really, how would he know when he'd only ever known adult Nathan? Because it sure seemed like he hadn't changed at all to her. There was a huge reason she never called Nathan when she found out about the pregnancy, one she never allowed herself to admit out loud. Haley was absolutely terrified Nathan would ask her to abort their baby. She always pushed the thought away and excused it as being a result of his last words to her on the beach, but still it haunted her almost constantly through the pregnancy._

_She hated herself for even allowing the thought to form for the first time, but to have it be a recurring one? It was a new level of self-loathing. And although she wanted nothing more than to prove herself wrong and see that Nathan wouldn't ask her to do such a thing, Haley never wanted to take the chance. What would happen if by the rarest of chances she was actually right and the horrible, callous Nathan she had somehow made up in her mind was the real Nathan? Tragedy and struggle always prove to show a person's true colours and a teenage pregnancy could certainly allow her high school companion to reveal a totally different side of himself, one that he had been keeping closeted to everyone. It was the uncertainty above all else that kept her hiding Jamie from her Tree Hill world. She refused to even allow Nathan be put in such a situation that could result in him asking for an abortion._

_It was better that way, safer. Safer for everyone, not just Jamie. Because although she was seriously doubting Nathan's character in her speculation of what he may want done about their baby, she was completely in love with him. As selfish as it may be, she didn't want to lose those feelings for him. They were never officially together, but she and Nathan always had a much different relationship than they had with anyone else in their group of friends. It was an unspoken connection that she never wanted to have damaged on her end. He could hate her all he wanted now, but it wouldn't stop her from loving him still. But if she had taken the chance and told him about Jamie and he made one of her worst nightmares a reality, then she would be disgusted by him like a flip of a switch and never look back again._

_As the memories came flooding back and the uncertainty began to be reawakened, Haley found her calm approach rapidly coming to an end. She was overwhelmed by her own anger now and the pressing need to protect Jamie from this world._

_"You don't get to say that to me," she stood up while speaking loudly to him. He was going to pay attention to her if she had to physically make him. "I was only eighteen years old, pregnant, and scared out of my mind. I was across the country from everyone I knew except for Brooke, how the hell am I supposed to handle the situation?"_

_"Oh I don't know, how about starting by INFORMING THE FATHER," he screamed at her, the loudness causing her to flinch slightly._

_"And have you say what, Nathan? If possible, you were a bigger ass all the time back then, even more than you're being right now. All you cared about was partying, fucking as many girls as you could, and your precious basketball. Correct me if I'm wrong, but little ol' Haley James and a baby don't really fit into that mix very well, do they?"_

_"Who are you to say what I would have done? You have no idea."_

_"That was the problem though, Nathan. I _did_ have ideas and not one of them was going to end up being good for Jamie. You were never going to give up Duke or even meet me halfway, so it was either I be expected to sacrifice all my dreams or raise him all on my own. I chose to raise my son alone instead of coming back here and only end up settling for an unhappy life where I resent both him and you for taking away what I was supposed to have."_

_"You are un-fucking-believable, you know that? The most heartless, selfish bitch I've ever met. How dare you have the balls to keep my son from me for four years and then come storming back into town one day only to blame all your actions on me. This isn't my fault."_

_"Did I say it was your fault? Funny, I don't remember those words coming out of my mouth. You're pissed off, fine. But what would you have done if you were me, Nathan? The last thing you said to me was that having sex was a mistake. Sorry I didn't think that was code for, 'I'd be cool if you got pregnant from this!' How was I supposed to know how you would react to that kind of news. You already broke my heart at the beach party, I didn't need to come back and have you do even more damage by rejecting me and your baby," she finished sadly and wiped at the tears flowing freely down her cheeks._

_Nathan seemed very unsettled by her ending confession and just stared at Haley for a moment. He really seemed to be taking her in and it was then that she noticed the realization sink in on his features. He understood that she was implying her fears about the abortion request and shook his head miserably. "Do you really think I'm capable of that? That if you had called or come back and told me you were pregnant, I would just abandon you, or do something even worse? I-I don't even know what to fucking say to that. You think I'm some kind of evil monster, huh? Not only could I never do that to someone, but especially someone who I considered one of my closest friends. Believe what you want to believe though, Haley. That's still no excuse and what you've taken from me; four years with my son, is unforgivable."_

_Haley felt like she had just been hit by a bus listening to Nathan speak. His voice had lost the anger and hostility, only to be replaced to the sound of utter defeat. For the first time, he was actually gazing directly in her eyes and the emotions swirling in his blue orbs were enough to have her sobbing to herself quietly. She could no longer find her voice and just watched as he let a few last stubborn tears spill over then turn his back to her. He walked quickly and silently to the gate on the patio, feelings her heart break into a million more pieces. This was the second time she had watched him turn his back and walk away from her and she was sure nothing had ever hurt worse than this moment in time._

* * *

Haley returned to her present mind and forced her body to move for the first time in hours. Brooke and Quinn were no longer on either side of her, so she guessed they had taken off to some corner of the house to talk about her. The joke was on them though because she was going to get out of bed and catch them in the act when they're probably sure she won't move until at least tomorrow. In high school, that would've been the case too. Whenever something really bad happened she had the tendency to shut down for a few days and then slowly bounce back. Ever since Jamie though, she hasn't been able to do that and really hasn't found it necessary either. Her son was her beacon of light and hope, he kept her going every single day.

She eased herself out of bed and stopped in the hallway to listen for any voices. She heard the faint whispers of Brooke and Quinn coming from somewhere downstairs and moved as quietly as she could to the stairs. Haley found the two women perched at the island counter in the kitchen, both with their backs to her. She decided that it wouldn't hurt to eavesdrop a little; they were talking about her anyway, and stepped out of view.

"How long do you think she'll be down for?" Quinn asked sounding worried.

"I'd give it another few hours and then she'll start trying to get herself back on track. Hales is a lot stronger than she was when you used to know her, she won't let all this keep her down," Brooke explained hopefully. She too was aware of how much Haley's coping mechanisms had changed over the years.

"I really hope you're right, Brooke. I've never seen my sister this way, it's scaring me. What the hell exactly happened last night?"

"Nathan found out about Jamie."

"Well, obviously. I managed to figure that out on my own," Quinn rolled her eyes. "And he's pissed?"

"I didn't hear everything they said, but yes pretty much. He stormed onto the patio when he figured it out and all we could hear was them screaming at each other, then silence, more screaming, and then they lowered their voices. After that, Haley came back in crying and I guess Nathan left."

"Oh God, poor Haley. Has anyone heard from Nathan? Like Luke or Peyton?" she clarified.

"I'm not sure," Brooke shrugged. "Before I called you, Haley also kind of had it out with Lucas and Peyton as well. They heard everything like me and obviously figured out that Nathan is Jamie's dad and Luke went pretty ballistic on her too. I haven't heard anything from either of them since, so your guess is as good as mine."

Haley sighed softly to herself. She had been so caught up with everything that happened with Nathan last night that she had actually momentarily forgotten her encounter with Lucas and Peyton. Hearing Brooke bring it up had it flooding back to her. Lucas was beyond confused and livid, Peyton just kept looking like she was going to cry. She felt betrayed that Haley had lied straight to their faces and could barely make eye contact with her and Brooke when she left.

* * *

_Haley stood outside by herself for a few minutes in silence. She paced back and forth next to the eerily calm, blue lit pool. That encounter with Nathan went worse than even she had expected. Before it began, she understood his emotions and empathized with them, but now she was not going to give him a smidge of the benefit of the doubt. He was still the same heartless bastard with a God complex fully intact from his basketball days._

_She was trying desperately to not let him affect her as strongly as he was but seemed to be failing miserably. She eventually just gave up and re-entered her house, slamming the door shut behind her. Within seconds of stepping into the dining room again, Lucas had jumped out of his seat and walked straight to her. His chest was pressed almost right up against hers and if she didn't know better, she would have thought he was trying to seduce her. His blue eyes had taken on a dark shade and his breathing was so heavy you could probably call it panting._

_"Wanna explain what the fuck that was? Because I have my ideas, but I know they can't be right," he spoke dangerously low._

_"Back off, Luke. Cool off the testosterone in her face and maybe she'll actually be willing to give you an explanation. Really, she doesn't even owe you one though," Brooke spat out defensively. She didn't like the way he had approached her and was definitely not going to stand for it._

_"Its okay, Brooke," Haley sighed in an attempt to diffuse the situation before Lucas had the opportunity to fire back at her. "Everybody just sit back down and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."_

_Lucas hesitated to break his steely gaze but did after a moment and reluctantly returned to his seat. "Well, I sat. Now what the fuck was that all about?"_

_"Something tells me you already figured it out," Haley commented calmly._

_"Yeah, well I won't believe it until you say it. The Haley I used to know would never behave so despicably as how I think you have the last five years now."_

_"I don't know what you want from me, Lucas. Yes, I kept my son from everybody and yes, Nathan is his father. Happy?"_

_"We're just confused, Haley," Peyton spoke for the first time. Her eyes were watering and the look of hurt and betrayal marring her features was like a shot through the heart. "One minute you're gone for five years and then the next you and Brooke are back. Then the very next second you accidentally let it slip to me that you have a son and it's like I turn around again and now Nathan is his father. This all happened so fast that it's a hell of a lot to take in. Not to mention you lied to my face when you first told me about Jamie the other day."_

_"Look, I'm so sorry Peyton. I never wanted to lie to you, but I didn't think it would be fair for Nathan to have literally everyone know before him. The way things went tonight was not my intention, it was all one big fuck up."_

_"Now you're talking about what's fair for Nathan? Unbelievable," Lucas scoffed. "Don't you think it would have been fair to come to him five years ago and let him know you were pregnant with his child? Or did that just manage to slip your mind?"_

_"I was trying to do what I thought would be best for my child. Nathan and I had a drunken one night stand at the end of summer party and the last thing he said to me was that it was a mistake. He was going to Duke and then probably to the NBA and I was going all the way across the country to Stanford. I wasn't ready to be a mother and there was no way Nathan was anywhere near ready or willing to be a father. I was trying to spare everyone the heartache."_

_"Haley, you hid his child from him. You hid him from all of us! That's my fucking nephew and up until twenty minutes ago, I had no idea he existed. How do you even live with yourself knowing that you've done this?"_

_"I can't explain myself anymore than that," Haley shrugged unapologetically. Sure, she offered much more to Nathan but that was because he's Jamie's father and truly deserves everything she could give. As much as she loved Lucas and Peyton, as far as she was concerned the details were none of their business and if they were interested to hear them then they could find Nathan and get his interpretation of them._

_"Now if you'll excuse me, it's been a long night and I think I'm just going to go to bed," Haley stood up slowly and made her way towards the door._

_"Are you kidding me?" Lucas yelled after her. "That's it? You're just gonna walk away like some sort of coward? Real nice."_

_Haley spun around, having enough of Lucas' verbal beating for the evening. "I'm not walking away or being any sort of coward, Lucas. You're too controlled by your anger to listen to anything I have to say and again, this has nothing to do with you. It is between Nathan and I, I understand you both are upset about the situation but you can get over it. I'm not just gonna sit here and let you walk all over me to make yourself feel better. And I believe you and Peyton know your way to the door, so please feel free to show yourselves out now."_

_"Haley, don't treat us like we're nobodies," Peyton shook her head in disbelief. "We're two of your closest friends and you're just going to kick us out of your house like this? It's not how things should be."_

_Brooke stepped in between Haley and the offended Lucas and Peyton. She wasn't going to have Haley go through any more than she had to tonight. "I'm with Haley on this one, I think it's time for you both to leave."_

_"Of course you're taking her side," Lucas sneered. "Don't think we haven't realized your part in this all too, Brooke. You and Haley have always been like little conniving partners in crime and I guess it doesn't change when it comes to hiding someone's child from them."_

_"I said leave, Lucas," Brooke spoke harshly and glared at him._

_"Whatever," Lucas scoffed and quickly stormed out of the house with Peyton following close behind him. The sound of the front door slamming reverberated through the house and it was then that Haley allowed her tears to fall rapidly for the first time. She let out a harsh sob and Brooke watched as her legs seem to give out completely and had her sliding to the floor._

_Brooke wasted no time in sinking to floor as well and wrapped her arms tightly around Haley's crumpled frame. "I am so sorry, Hales. For everything. This entire night is my entire fault. If I had just kept my big mouth shut at dinner then none of this would have happened. You can hate me for the rest of our lives, I would understand."_

_"It's not your fault, Brooke," Haley managed to get out with a shake of her head. "No matter what this would have been the outcome, so I'm not mad. You should have seen his face though, God. He just looked so angry and devastated, I don't think he'll ever forgive me."_

_"Shh," Brooke whispered and ran her fingers through Haley's hair gently. "Everything will work itself out in time. Whatever is meant to be, will be. Nathan could never hate you forever though, he's in love with you and no matter what happens you will always be the mother of his child. That'll always count for something because based on his reaction and some of the things I managed to hear, he already cares for Jamie."_

_"I broke his heart, Brooke. I made him believe I think he's some kind of monster, and in his defense I guess I did. Part of my reasoning for not wanting to tell him about my pregnancy is because I was afraid he might ask me to terminate it, how messed up is that?" she choked out, hating herself all over again for the thought._

_"Oh, honey I'm so sorry. What can I do to make it any better? Anything you want."_

_"I just want you and my big sister," Haley said softly while leaning her head on Brooke's shoulder in exhaustion. "You guys always know how to make things better for me."_

_"I'll call her right now," Brooke obliged immediately. She wanted nothing more than to help Haley in any way possible. She may not be able to fix the disastrous situation completely, but if she could do her part to help then nothing would stop her from doing so._

* * *

Haley squeezed her eyes shut tightly to fight off the memories of the previous night. It all felt like one long, horrible nightmare and the memories were just reminders that it was in fact reality. She wanted to fix things though; she was determined to fix them actually. Her and Nathan had not left things on good terms and she wanted to be at least speaking to him by the time Jamie arrived in town. The last thing she wanted was to be bringing him into some kind of war zone. With that thought in mind, she promised herself to approach Nathan in the next day or two and try to have a civil conversation with him.

She also realized she needed to patch things up with Luke and Peyton. They hadn't exactly understood either and she hoped it was just a heat of the moment type thing and perhaps they'd be much calmer now that the night had passed. Haley took a moment to work out a game plan in her head on how to deal with her present situation. She didn't want to waste any more time feeling sorry for herself or crying about how much Nathan hated her. The damage had been done a long time ago and now it was her job to pick up all the pieces again and try to heal all the relationships she broke. She plastered a fake smile on her face and walked into the kitchen to Quinn and Brooke. If she was going to make things right then she was going to have to swallow her pride a bit and let those around her yell and scream and cry until they accepted her actions. Becoming defensive wouldn't do any good and the best way to make sure she did things the right way was to make herself be as happy as possible. She needed to remember all the amazing things she had in her life that were worth smiling over and only focus on this when she spoke to Nathan for a second time.


End file.
